Not even the most optimistic expected that the 2026 budget law would be approved with the vote of 46 of the 72 national senators if the bloc of Advances in freedom It only has about twenty members. It was that first parliamentary victory in favor of the government. The official celebration before the passage of the first budget approved by Congress in two years Javier Milei seemed to leave the bitter taste that the semi-sanction left in the Chamber of Deputiesafter the opposition enforced its rejection of the chapter of the initiative that led to the repeal of the university funding and disability emergency laws, and this situation led the president himself to consider vetoing the law if it were finally passed.
Until a few hours after the semi-sanction in the House of Representatives, in the early hours of Thursday 18th, spokesmen for the ruling party complained that a “deficit” budget had been approved. What happened to that, eight days later, with the validation of the law by the senateWill the ruling party celebrate the passage of a “deficit-free” budget? Put simply, the government will reallocate budget items or use the excess funds that may be left over due to inflation, which is likely to end up higher than the budget’s expected 10.1% – fortunately for many -. Some in the government are also looking forward to economic growth slightly above the 5% legally set for 2026, which would ease tensions.
There was no possibility of repentance, even if the law was far from perfect. The approval of the budget by Congress was, in effect, a request from the IMF to grant the Argentine state a “waiver” or forgiveness for failure to meet reserve accumulation targets.. Milei agreed to resign from one part – the repeal of laws that he believes are incompatible with budget balance – to ensure the whole and ensure a Governance sign after two years without the so-called law of laws.
If the ruler wants to achieve something but realizes that he cannot achieve it, the worst thing he would do would be to show his disappointment and complain about his failure. A much smarter tactic is to pretend you never really needed it. Sometimes such an attitude can be seen as a typical reaction of weak people, but strictly speaking it is the tactic of the powerful.
As already mentioned Niccolò MachiavelliThere is nothing more difficult to carry out, more doubtful and more dangerous to handle than the implementation of a new order of things. Although everyone understands the need for change, people are children of habits. Too much innovation can be traumatic and lead to rebellion.
Perhaps the greatest satisfaction the first president received Last Friday evening, the Senate voted to approve Chapter II of the budget project with the support of 42 deputies – more than twice as many members as La Libertad Avanza. This chapter included the repeal of regulations providing for a mandatory minimum investment of 6% of GDP in education and an investment that should gradually reach 1% of GDP in science and technology. It was a Revenge of the libertarians in view of a culture war that the ruling party had inexorably lost Since that blow to the liver that was the massive March for Milei in defense of the public university and against the President’s veto of the university funding bill, which was rejected by a Congress in which Mileism had no foothold at the time.
70% of students attending public universities belong to the top 20% of families. Hardly one in a hundred students from the poorest quintile of the Argentine population graduates
As expected, from the Kirchnerism The government was blamed intend to “blow up Argentina’s education system”. However, the truth is that this 6 percent target has been achieved only once since the Education Financing Law was passed in 2006, in 2015. In the remaining years, its implementation was partially or directly not achieved. We need to add this to that Increased spending did not lead to better educational outcomes; This is proven by national evaluations and tests Learn or international PISA. So the problem is not just how much is invested, but also how those resources are distributed..
Although the issue of university funding seems to have been resolved today in favor of the political opposition and groups advocating for free public universities, a long debate lies ahead, although for many it is a taboo subject. Budget increases are often demanded as if money were falling from the sky. Almost no one dares to think about whether it wouldn’t be fairer for students from high-income families and foreigners to pay a fee that enables scholarships for low-income students..
Just as certain provinces are demanding more contributions from the public treasury, arguing that they cannot maintain their devastated roads but are unable to compensate for their bureaucratic excesses in overgrown human resources operations, other sectors are demanding a larger budget for universities without saying where the funds will come from.
Demagoguery often creeps into this discussion. Although the Argentina has more university students than Brazil And chilithese two countries outperform the percentage of graduates. The number of students per 10,000 inhabitants in 2021 was 557 in Argentina, 408 in Brazil and 355 in Chile. However, The number of graduates per 10,000 inhabitants is 61 in Brazil, 55 in Chile and only 31 in Argentinaaccording to a paper by Argentine Center for Educational Studies des University of Belgrano.
Another relevant fact is that although university is free, Hardly one in a hundred students from the poorest quintile of the Argentine population graduates. 70% of students attending public universities belong to the top 20% of families.
This confirms that not even free care benefits young people with fewer means. Strictly speaking, the debate about free costs is wrong if someone always ends up paying the costs, since public funds come from taxes paid by citizens. Few are surprised Why should all taxpayers fund students who are able to pay a reasonable fee for their higher education when public funding does not make it possible to achieve satisfactory graduation rates among students of lower socioeconomic status?.
What we should try is to look for better alternatives that go beyond voluntaristic solutions supported by resources of a State that definitely needs to leave the budget deficit behind, without forgetting at the same time that the countries that have grown the most are those that, without neglecting the contribution of private capital, have invested the most in education and the promotion of scientific research.
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