Two economists with supposedly dogmatic and antagonistic views run the country and the most important province. It seems that Javier Milei and Axel Kicillof have nothing in common. However, in recent days, and hand in hand with political needs, they have once again shown a large dose of pragmatism that resembles them.
The same president who two years ago delivered his inaugural address with his back to Congress, which was unprecedented, was on Wednesday in one of the boxes of the Chamber of Deputies celebrating the inauguration of the libertarian lawmakers with his sister Karina and his faithful Manuel Adorni. No head of state had ever done that.
Such a pirouette is more likely to be explained by the fact that the purple bloc was the first minority in the chamber to end the legislative “caste”, as the official story is supposed to convince.
Authoritarians don’t like that
The practice of professional and critical journalism is a mainstay of democracy. That is why it bothers those who believe that they are the owners of the truth.
How did the LLA manage to increase its number of seats compared to those it had won as a result of its election victory? At least attract the will of the PRO and wig-wearing radicals with the promise of greater exposure and impact. The typical doll of the breed.
They resorted to the same tricks to achieve a minimal disruption of the Peronist bloc, but were enough to shift it to the second minority. To achieve this, they had the contribution of several Peronist governors, starting with Raúl Jalil from Catamarca (who removed his deputies from the PJ) and Osvaldo Jaldo from Tucumán (who separated his group and gave another nod in the Senate).
In this task of “convincing” the provincial leaders, a leading role was played by the brand new Mileist Interior Minister Diego Santilli, who has negotiating skills as extensive as his political resume. Caste is another.
Last Friday, Santilli once again demonstrated libertarian flexibility when, with Adorni, he received at the Casa Rosada the governor of La Pampa, Sergio Ziliotto, one of the few Peronist leaders who had no connection to the nation until the elections a month ago. Kicillof, Gildo Insfrán, Ricardo Quintela and Gustavo Melella are still active in this group.
The ruling party’s “Operation Seduction” is linked to the expectation that Congress will give the green light to the 2026 budget (which would be the purple government’s first after two consecutive years of extensions) and to various reforms: labor, tax and penal reforms, among others.
Despite being the first minority in the House of Representatives and the second in the Senate, the LLA needs to gain more support to get the approvals it wants. Remember: there are lawmakers – both dialogueists and opponents – who hope that the government will be forced to show the kind of generosity that enabled the passage of the Bases law and the tax package. Consideration of funds and fees (part one). It is clear that there is nothing illegal about it.
Kicillof had to go to the same kind of distance this week. He did this so that the Buenos Aires legislature could finally approve the possibility of foreign financing of more than $3.5 billion.
Like everything in this fragmented and warlike Peronism, the governor, in theory, first had to compromise with those who belong to him. Therefore, contrary to what he had imagined, he had to hand over the presidency of the deputies to two men, Máximo Kirchner and Sergio Massa, who alternately succeed each other and the legislative secretariats are shared.
Another concession was to mayors and was key to understanding the Peronist electoral victory in the provincial parliamentary elections in September (and revealed by the national defeat in October).
Kicillof had to almost double the planned amounts to be distributed to municipalities: from $150 billion to $250 billion. Everything is possible to pay off the debts you are seeking. The governor clarifies that this is to pay off the loans taken by María Eugenia Vidal, whose term ended in 2019.
The most obvious give-and-take in obtaining votes was also evident in the creation of new chairmen on Banco Provincia’s already extensive board. From eight it went to fourteen.
Of these fourteen, four represent Kicillofism and five represent the rest of the Peronist tribes of Buenos Aires. The remaining five were distributed among the opponents without the consent of the LLA. Curiously, two of these locations were accepted by representatives of the PRO, allied with or imitating the purple planet in the territory of Buenos Aires. It seems that not everything or not always is convenient.
Although the issuance of bonds now depends on national approval (as Córdoba and Santa Fe already did), Kicillof at least received legislative approval for it
Funds that provide financial predictability to the final biennium of provincial government. And some rest for his presidential ambitions.
To do this, it had to rely on the compensation of funds and fees (part two), a method that does not fail and to which the national government also resorts. Needs force political flexibility, which should not always be admitted. Especially when they go against the narrative that is trying to be established. Nothing new under the sun.
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