It’s a different time. What until recently was a cause for recognition and an essential part of the record of action of libertarian leaders, officials and legislators, is now the subject of criticism and even recrimination.
The background is the same, but the shapes are not. At least for now at this stage, when the government wants and needs to achieve fundamental goals. At Casa Rosada they know that they have a large window for this. Opportunity of no more than four months and that they must not squander it on self-inflicted damage like the one that occurred in the first half of last year and brought the country to the brink of collapse right before the elections. Terror teaches.
The Milei brothers’ administration is warned about this He cannot squander opportunities or continually expect rescue from Donald Trump and Scott Bessent.like the one who first saved him from a stock market and financial catastrophe and later from a serious electoral setback. Even less when the decisive year of the midterm elections begins in the United States, and Support for the “American friend” is declining among his own voterswhose greatest demand is due to the functioning of the economy. And the intervention in Argentina has many critics in this universe.
Hence the argumentative show of the histrionic friend of the president and vice president Lilia LemoineThis was discussed last Wednesday when the new MPs were sworn in a premature and unnecessary surplus. Some gestures and interludes from the outgoing defense minister and the brand new deputy also fell into this category. Luis Petri. The same thing happened with the provocations added by the ever voluptuous people Juliana Santillanon an equal footing with Peter. Not to mention the appearances and “resignation of the resignation” of the elected and rejected senator from her deputy seat. Lorena Villaverde. There is no space.
Martin Menemthe arm of Karina Milei in the House of Commons (and something else) since the Presidency of the House of Commons, he threatened to get some yellow cards and eventually sent warnings to these MPs, although the provocateurs during the session saw the euphoric thumbs up for it Javier Mileiaimed at her. Not everything that is celebrated in the heat of battle is considered a success in the balance sheet.
“It was a less scandalous meeting than many others and the president adopted a very cautious attitude in the face of the prevailing euphoria, but.” It is true that what Lilia, Petri and Santillán did not help at all and that is why they were told that it did not go down well and that it should not be repeated. “It was unnecessary,” they said near Menem the next day. The bar for scandal and the grotesque is low in the libertarian world, but they say it is beginning to rise.
That is a relevant part of the change that comes with the start of the second and final phase of Milei’s term, whose main political spokesmen, now his sister and Menem’s cousins, have already announced that they have begun campaigning for his re-election in 2027.
This is a goal, but also a tool. The purpose is not just to install a construction of meaning in public opinion as an electoral marketing strategy and to prevent the emergence of the lame duck photo at the mercy of predators with which to identify presidents entering the final phase of their term in office.
What these ads are primarily looking for is create an image of solidity and continuity in the future, beyond December 10, 2027, as demanded by investors who still need to convince the government of the sustainability of their project so that they can concretize their delayed promises.
This is more important in mileism than the government-generated feeling of boredom that occurs among citizens in times of proselytizing, when the echoes and wear and tear of a strenuous election year continue to be felt in the social body.
The ruling party is also trying to seize the opportunity created by the confusion and chaos among opponents. They are unable to capitalize on the fact that the promised benefits of official victory are far from being widely realized. On the contrary, large sections of society are suffering from various harmful effects of the government’s economic policies. Apart from the decline in inflation (although it stagnates above two percent), the decline in poverty with all its problems, the budget surplus and the calm exchange rate. All of this is a lot, but no longer enough.
That’s also why Milei and his economic team want to To move forward fully in this district with the fewest possible concessions. Firstly, with the sanction of budgetfor which it has already been said that the willingness exists negotiate, but little and as long as it does not change the established balances, a corset intended not only to affect almost nothing of the official initiative, but also to divide the parliamentary delegates of the governors. What one wants to earn must be taken away from the other without affecting the income of the nation. This is what the government is proposing.
The first phase also attempts to approve the latecomer “Tax Innocence Act” so that Argentinians get their dollars out of the mattress. The primary and urgent goal is to bring the stored greenbacks to the market, which would help keep the exchange rate under control and, in particular, stimulate frozen consumption. Currently there are only a few recoveries that are so heterogeneous because they are concentrated in the sectors with the greatest purchasing power, which gradually gives more solidity to the characteristics of a society with greater inequality. The reason for this is known to be a malaise that is difficult to control when it occurs even in countries where the macroeconomy is showing signs of robustness.
At the same time discussion of the draft Labor reformwhich the government also considers crucial and, contrary to the opinion of interested parties and experts, uses as an argument in its favor the destruction of official jobs in the sector, which is in addition to the suspensions registered in the first half of its term in office and which have registered a slight acceleration in the last month.
“98% of the project is there and belongs to Patricia (Bullrich), who has already started pushing it in the Senate,” says one of the senior officials who has been involved in the preparation from the beginning and has a close connection to the president.
In this area, the office of the Minister of Deregulation, Federico Rumpfenegger, one of the main proponents and managers of the reform, almost assumes that it will pass the filters, although they admit that there will be some things that will be negotiated. What is up for discussion is only the 2 percent that is missing to achieve the entirety of the initiative that will ultimately be discussed in Congress?
It could probably be more, because those who know Rumpfenegger say that his maxim is: “I outline your goal as much as possible so that at the end they feel that I am ready to get a little closer to them and to end the negotiation as close as possible to the desired point.” Trumpist tactics that seem destined to succeed amid Unionism’s crisis of representativeness and scenes of cannibalism within declining Perokirchnerism.
In defense of Stützenegger’s maximalism, which raises doubts or questions among some cabinet colleagues and people close to the president, his staff compiled a list of 14 implemented deregulations of very different types and effects, with the positive effects each had. Obviously, some affected sectors have a different point of view and the result is more nuanced or very beginning in certain cases.
In any case, they serve to advance the new stage of reforms and deregulation, for which it was decided not to proceed with a new “Basic Law II”, but with disaggregated projects. They stand in between Education reforms and extremely simplistic regulatory summaries in various matters such as health, medicine, trade and industry, which will accelerate the dismantling of national territories. The big question is whether they will be able to do it as before without major conflicts. But this question is not being asked at the top of the government
This decision to fragment the new measures to transform state roles and attributes instead of presenting them in a single mega-package is further evidence of the shift in the balance of power in Congress in favor of La Libertad Avanza (LLA).
The fact that it had succeeded in becoming the first minority in the House of Representatives, as well as the significant loss of seats and the internal differences of the Kirchner bloc in the Senate, set in motion a process that was more incremental than disruptive.
This scenario is the right one confirms and explains the changed way in which the Casa Rosada faces this phase, although everyone knows that the lion can roar again at any time. and that the containment applied after the defeat in Buenos Aires does not mean that it has become herbivorous. Quite the opposite. That’s what they say “He’s more carnivorous than ever.”only that while the prey is stunned and unable to challenge him, he tries not to wake him up to take everything.
Milei exudes confidence. The election victory strengthened him not only because of the result and the impact it had on the entire opposition world and even on his critical allies such as the Macristas.
In addition, he is credited with being the strategist of the official election campaign this time. “They gave me two options: either do everything or make agreements in several districts. I chose the first because otherwise I would have fallen into the trap of these agreements, as happened to Mauricio (Macri) after his victory in 2017. That started with the victory in the city (Buenos Aires) and there we went from Freedom Advances to Freedom Devastates,” says one of his associates.
It is already known that his sister, together with the Menems and their Buenos Aires shipowner, Sebastián Pareja, were the promoters of “Let’s do everything” and that Santiago Caputo made some agreements.
The outcome and consequences of the triumphant option are being reviewed these days. This after the scandalous end of his former protégé Sergio Neiffert The advisor has put someone he absolutely trusts at the head of the Secretariat of Intelligence (SIDE), such as Christian Augustadrawho ran the family accounts does not mean that “the Iron Triangle” has come back to power.
Today, more than ever, the geometry of power is resolved in a line of just two points: Javier and Karina Milei. The rest are figures of greater or lesser relevance and frequency that orbit and interact with this linear axis. The results will determine who acquires more or less volume from now on. Or they cease to belong to the government universe.
In this scenario, the new Interior Minister will be put to the test, Diego Santilliover whom the chief of staff exercises jealous supervision, Manuel Adornia prominent member of the Karinista team. For him, the deadline for submitting results is more urgent, since the way in which the discussion on the 2026 budget is resolved will be the basis for the discussion of the other projects.
Even the slightest restoration of the veto power of governors and their legislators can change the plans of the winning ruling party. And above all, change the moderate tone for the return of the lion’s roar.
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