President Javier Miley chaired a summit with the governors/presidency a few days ago
The national government, through Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni and Interior Minister-designate Diego Santelli (who will be sworn in tomorrow), is scheduled to resume dialogue with the provincial governors today. The goal is to seek consensus that will allow us to address the so-called “second generation reforms”, promoted by President Javier Miley, and to reach advanced agreements to approve the 2026 budget.
The government’s strategy focuses on holding a preliminary round of bilateral dialogue with each regional representative before holding an expanded summit. In this context, Martin Larriura from Cordoba and Marcelo Orrego from San Juan will visit Casa Rosada today.
Also on the agenda are Salta’s Gustavo Sainz and possible meetings with Maximiliano Pollaro (Santa Fe), Osvaldo Galdo (Tucuman), Hugo Passalacqua (Misiones), Alfredo Cornejo (Mendoza), Gustavo Valdes (Corrientes) and others. While Adorni and Santelli have already received Ignacio Torres (Chubut) and Raul Jalil (Catamarca).
What the executive branch intends is to “lubricate relations with the provinces” to secure the necessary votes in Congress and approve central issues such as the 2026 budget, labor reforms, taxes and sanctions during special sessions scheduled from December 10 to 31.
The need to approve this package in Congress is critical to the AFP, requiring the support of allied and local blocs. This is what stimulates communication with the governorates. Even in La Rosada, they realize that no structural change can be made “without the will of the majority of the rulers.”
For provincial leaders, the priority is to ensure that any reform does not mean a net loss of shareable resources. They warn that reducing a distorting tax at the national level could be celebrated by the productive sector, but if it reduces the amount to be distributed, it directly affects the financing of the provinces.
Weight of the United Provinces
Dialogue between the national executive and the governors is also underway as provincial leaders seek to strengthen their political weight in Congress through the federal United Provinces coalition.
Despite the poor electoral result in the legislative elections of October 26, this coalition, which brings together radical leaders and Peronist dissidents such as Pollaro, Larriura and Torres, among others, seeks to establish itself as a powerful bloc in Congress that acts as an arbitrator or third main force for governance, negotiating its support with both the LAF and Peronism.
Although they are unlikely to be a “hardline opposition,” their support for Miley’s reforms will be conditional on the responses the government provides to their demands for joint participation and regional financing.
At the same time, the emergence of the United Provinces further unnerved the Radical Inner Party, one of the parties with the largest presence in this federal group:
Because while the majority of extremist governors are committed to dialogue and practical cooperation with the government to obtain resources and agreements for their provinces, other sectors of the DRC, such as those belonging to the Party of Democracy for Survival, maintain a tougher stance against the ruling party.
One unknown to be resolved at this time is whether legislators elected by the United Provinces will join blocs such as the UCR or form their own seats with a federal footprint. In short, the dilemma is whether to cooperate with Miley and risk the erosion of the party’s identity or to resist and lose influence in key negotiations such as the budget and upcoming reforms.
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