Since its creation The government is acting like there is no tomorrowas if time were slipping through his hands. This impetus was particularly explained at the beginning, when the weakness of the political structure for a very radical plan became apparent and it was decided to compensate for this deficiency through an uncompromising management style, anchored solely in the image of Javier Milei in public opinion.
It was a risky bet because it forced two premises to remain intact before society: to show the president, the head of state, as the one outsider of a rejected system and meet the demand for lower inflation. This worked for him and given the opposition’s representation crisis, it was enough for him to win the general election, barring the managerial setbacks and internal bleeding due to power disputes.
Now, anointed by electoral support and with a much more relevant makeup in Congress, Freedom Advances keeps the momentum going as a collector and enforcing deadlines: The impossible procedure for approving the 2026 budget and labor reform was laid out within ten working days before the end of the year.
Not even Kirchnerism in its most hegemonic phase implemented such an explicit parliamentary timetable. In the governments of Néstor and Cristina, characterized by disregard for forms and authoritarian cult, an unprecedented pace was achieved without respecting the regulations. A leader who is still close to the former president then summed it up with a graphic, if not very elegant, sentence: “We’re going to take you to paradise by kicking your ass.” There is something like the promise of a better future in libertarians.
This format is about political practice and the ability to react to imponderables. “There was a misjudgment,” they admit in the ruling party, to justify the fact that the first project, which was supposed to be approved and presented as a triumph of the new legislative era, ended up being interpreted as a failure. The rejection of the budget section that repealed the emergency disability and university funding laws angered the Casa Rosada, which had a different forecast.
Milei himself wanted to “shield” what he sees as an open flank attacking the heart of the budget balance. The conflict has dragged on since at least June as the government refuses to negotiate an interim solution with more dialogue-friendly sectors, leading to attrition in the second half of 2025:
- The president vetoed both regulations, which were sanctioned by opponents.
- The president failed in both attempts to uphold these vetoes, failing to receive a third of the vote.
- In the proclamation, the president sought a “shortcut” to avoid compliance with the provisions of the pension law.
- The president was defeated again when he tried to repeal the laws in Article 75 of the budget.
The strange thing about this latest stumble is this No alarm was raised at the “political table”.no matter how sensitive the matter was. Interior Minister Diego Santilli and Chamber of Deputies President Martín Menem were stunned by what they saw as “betrayal.” A group of governors had warned that their legislators would not support it, but another, closer group delivered a surprise that they did not expect: Juan Pablo Valdés (Corrientes), Leandro Zdero (Chaco) and Rolando Figueroa (Neuquén).
Associations of relatives of people with disabilities were most active on site between Tuesday, when the judgment was signed, and Wednesday. All affected deputies have been contacted. Actress Valentina Bassi, who has become one of the faces of the crusade, sent a message to Tucumán Governor Osvaldo Jaldo asking for support. “Stay calm,” he replied. And he fulfilled it.
A secret transfer of banknotes took place inside the Casa Rosada. There is no longer any room for the internal acrimony that Santiago Caputo pitted against the Menem, the executive of Karina Milei. Currently.
Yes, there was one PRO throws a tantrum because they left him outside the Office of the Auditor General of the Nation. At dawn, in a prepared move, the three chairs were distributed to the LLA, Kirchnerism and a tandem integrated into the talks of governors Gustavo Sáenz (Salta), Raúl Jalil (Catamarca), Osvaldo Jaldo (Tucumán), Carlos Rovira (political leader of Misiones) and, in the shadow, Sergio Massa. This third box was for Mauricio Macri’s party, a verbal commitment that Cristian Ritondo was unable to put into practice.
To avoid further mistakes and despite the bad weather, the government has decided to postpone the labor reform until February and does not lose hope of making changes to the budget in the Senate. In this case it should be discussed again in the House of Representatives. In fact, notification of lawmakers began Friday afternoon (the majority had left and were planning vacations next week). who are available for a possible meeting between December 29th and 30th.
A draft is circulating with possible amendments, which does not foresee a repeal of the laws, but sets limits within their scope: for example, the flexibility of access to non-contributory disability pensions is abolished and the indexation of items for expenses and salaries of university professors is excluded, which also sets a limit for the recovery of lost amounts. That means, there is an intention to yield partially, not entirely; and invest money.
Does this more moderate stance reflect a thoughtful shift in government? “We had to stop the ball and see what was appropriate, we were running against ourselves,” replies an official involved in the discussions. Another, however, laughs and asks an ironic question: “Are you saying we’re growing up?”
There is consensus at headquarters that the reform agenda – the central aim of which is to send signals to markets, the United States and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – must be finalized before March. Basically to exploit the post-election effect of shutting people down in the summer and appeasing their grievances. The start of class marks the real beginning of the cycle, with the salary debate, a more active role for unions and the fact that economic expectations are tough.
The Libertarian government enters its third year in office with greater party solidarity and strong support from the United States, which is crucial for overcoming critical moments. The challenge is to recalibrate the economic body how much the middle and lower classes have to endure the decline in income and precarious employment. None of these problems started with Milei, but the erosion is cumulative.
The government is expected to end the year with inflation around 30% a year, a budget surplus and a stable dollar, beyond election-term pressures and debate over the exchange rate lag. There are doubts that there has been no growth that would have led to a strong recovery in purchasing power and consumption.
Nobody gives guarantees that this will happen in 2026. The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), compiled by the University of Torcuato Di Tella, recorded a decline of 1.07% this month, ending the upward trend recorded in October and November. The last measurement is 45.55 points. The highest peak this year was reached in January at 47.38, and since then the curve has marked a significant decline with a slight recovery.
The estimate describes that there is less confidence in the suburbs and inland than in the capital and that expectations of both current and future conditions have declined.
A central topic in the coming months is employment. Unemployment is at 6.6%according to the latest official data released this week. That’s down from 7.9% in the first quarter of this year, but still up from 5.7% at the end of 2023. The quality of the jobs created is inferior and perpetuates a precarity whose social subject is that of low-income earners.
In Milei’s model, there are winners and losers, and those hurt include industrial sectors. It is true that they benefited from the previous regulation and played by the rules of the protected economy, favored by the loophole and the negative interest rate. Now they are in the jungle and, as we all know, the strongest survive there.
“The unemployment rate was around 6% in the 1980s and around 17% in 1997,” describes economist Marina Dal Poggetto, director of EcoGo, to Infobae. “The combination of opening and privatization had a significant impact on the labor market. “It wasn’t immediate, because a lot of voluntary retirements were for money, so not everyone turned to the labor market, but it started to increase,” explains the author together with Daniel Kerner Back to the 90s. There he compares Carlos Menem’s trial with today and, despite the differences, has no doubts about the employment: “The jump in productivity leads to an increase in unemployment“A very simple example: If there are 30 students in a classroom and the average grade is 7, there are two ways to increase the average: 1) increase learning hours, improve the program, content, etc. 2) rank from top to bottom and remove the 15 students who are below 7. This is achieved automatically. Translated to the workplace, the determining factor is whether the economy is on a sufficiently strong and long path to absorb these costs.
We’ll see what the future looks like in the coming months. Even if the government does not say this publicly, it is not aware of the fact that this opens a gray horizon. The economic team has just recalibrated the band system, in force since January, whose update is no longer 1% monthly but is linked to inflation. The message was seen as “sensible” in the red circle, as was the intention to accumulate reserves, which the president put into perspective. We will have to see how this scheme fluctuates, because for Milei the underlying goal remains to achieve 0 inflation in August 2026.
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