2023-12-22 22:41:04
This decree has what it takes to go down in Argentine history. Also the television speech of the new president Javier Milei, which lasted exactly 15 minutes and 20 seconds.
The libertarian economist has been in office for eleven days and is setting an accelerated pace in reform efforts. Immediately following taking office, he presented a “Plan to Stabilize the Argentine Economy”which included a radical devaluation of the Argentine peso and the reduction of ministries by half. On Wednesday (December 20, 2023) he announced a series of measures with which he wants to deregulate the Argentine economy.
Poverty and liberalization
The package of measures aims to address the root of the problems of the Argentine economy, Milei said in the local followingnoon. According to estimates from the Catholic University (UCA), at the end of the third quarter, almost one in two Argentines (44.7 percent) lived below the poverty line, and almost two thirds (62.9 percent) of Argentine children and young people up to the age of 17 were affected by poverty. Annual inflation was around 160 percent.
Milei personally read 30 emergency measures that, if implemented, will have a massive impact on the Argentine economy.
This includes repealing laws that currently protect workers and tenants to make the labor and real estate markets more flexible. Milei also wants to privatize state companies and abolish restrictions on the export of Argentine goods: “As of today, prohibiting exports is prohibited,” she stated.
The approval of the conversion of football clubs into public limited companies must also be made possible, if the clubs so wish. In total, more than 300 laws will have to be abolished or modernized, Milei said.
Reform versus blockade
On Thursday (December 21, 2023) he announced that he will also present new laws to Congress. Parliament will now deal with it; From a legal point of view, it is not clear whether the decree can come into force without majority approval.
Even before the television speech, protesters and police clashed in Buenos Aires.Image: Luciano Gonzalez/Anadolu/picture alliance
The libertarian-conservative government does not have a majority in Congress. There are signs of a power struggle between “reformer” Milei and “blockers” in Parliament, whom the new president might blame for the failure of the reforms.
Milei can rely on a clear electoral victory in the second round once morest the candidate of the until now ruling left-wing Peronist force, Sergio Massa. Milei announced his deregulation and privatization strategy during the election campaign. However, it is not certain that the majority of Argentines will support such a harsh reform course.
Unions: the Government criminalizes protest
Hours before the expected television speech, the first protests organized by the leftist “Polo Obrero” had already gathered thousands of people in the Plaza de Mayo in the capital, Buenos Aires.
The new Minister of Security, the conservative Patricia Bullrich, previously mobilized a large number of security personnel and threatened to withdraw social assistance to those who participated in road blockades, in accordance with new regulations issued in this regard.
Hours before the expected television speech: the first protests organized by the leftist “Polo Obrero”. Image: Agustin Marcarian/REUTERS
“The new regulation of social protests clearly ignores fundamental constitutional rights and guarantees, as well as the democratic institutions of our country,” the unions condemned. The initiative of the new Government shows a “clear and obvious decision to criminalize protest.”
The Government considered a success the comparatively manageable number of protesters who took to the streets in the usually rebellious Buenos Aires. But, following Milei’s speech, thousands of people spontaneously gathered in the capital and in other cities such as La Plata, to express their discontent with the announced measures: with “cacerolazos”, hitting pots with spoons, as is common in South America. It is likely that this spontaneous demonstration is the beginning of a long social debate regarding the correct solution to the Argentine economic crisis.
“Avant-garde or deterrent example”
“Milei describes the State as a prevention machine from which it wants to free the economy. With this ultra-liberal model, Milei will become an international vanguard or a deterrent example,” predicts independent economic consultant Carl Moses, in an interview with DW .
Consulted by DW, Ricardo Aronskind, from the General Sarmiento National University, harshly criticized the presidential decree: “It listed a series of economic regulation and privatization measures, behind which, in many cases, there are very specific private interests, in many cases with foreign capital interested in acquiring Argentine companies or assets”.
(rml/gg)
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