Milei's night in Rome, last minute change of accommodation and visit to the Colosseum. While in Argentina there is a reshuffle

Last minute change of accommodation and night visit to the Colosseum. These are the first steps of the Argentine president Javier Milei in Rome, who arrived yesterday in Fiumicino on an eagerly awaited visit, at the center of which there will be a “reconciliation” meeting on Monday with Pope Francis, whom he attacked during the election campaign as a “nefarious person “, followed by meetings with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella. Having arrived by plane from Israel, Milei and his delegation, which also includes his sister Karina, general secretary of the presidency, immediately headed to the Argentine embassy in Piazza dell'Esquilino, a three-storey historic residence overlooking Santa Maria Maggiore, where Evita Peron slept 75 years ago. Milei was also supposed to stay there, to avoid waste of public money, but – the Argentine daily newspaper La Nacion reveals – in the end the president “did not like” the accommodations of the residence who opted together with his sister for the Intercontinental Ambasciatori hotel in via Veneto . The others stayed at the Double Tree by Hilton Rome, next to the embassy. The delegation includes the ministers of Foreign Affairs Diana Mondino, of the Interior, Guillermo Francos, of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello, and several entrepreneurs.

Last night, Milei and her sister paid a visit to the Colosseum, as we learn from a photo shared on Instagram which shows them from behind as they overlook the interior of the Flavian amphitheatre. So far there are no indications on what Milei intends to do today, whose agenda includes a day of rest. Tomorrow morning at 9.30 you will participate in the canonization ceremony of Maria José de Paz y Figueroa, known as Mama Antula, the first Argentine saint, in St. Peter's. But for the rest of the day there are no plans. What will Milei do? Will there be a press conference after the long-awaited meeting with the Pope?, asks Nacion, underlining the difficulty of following the unpredictable president “with the chainsaw” who does not have a press officer with him. Meanwhile, not all Argentinians in Rome are happy with the visit of Milei, a far-right populist and libertarian outsider. The group “Argentinos en Italia Por la Memoria la Verdad y la Justicia” has issued an open letter to Italians and Pope Francis in which concern is expressed for the “moment of democratic emergency” that Argentina is experiencing after the advent of Milei: A protest demonstration has been called for tomorrow morning at 9.30 in Piazza Risorgimento, with the invitation to bring Italian, Argentine and EU flags.

Meanwhile, the harsh defeat in the Chamber of the omnibus law of Milei's Argentine government could cause a further reshuffle of the executive and parliamentary alliances just two months after taking office. If in the initial formation of the executive the ultra-liberal president had in fact favored the choice of including exponents of the so-called 'dialogueist' opposition, now accused of treason for the flop of the law, Milei is now considering – from Rome – the hypothesis of incorporating into the exponents of former president Mauricio Macri's party, the PRO, also unified the parliamentary groups of the two sides. The reshuffle began on Friday night with the request for the resignation of the director of Social Security (Anses) and the secretary for Mines, among the dialogue leaders, and everything indicates that the two will be replaced with Macri's men. Not only that, the president gave his green light to also carry forward the unification of the small parliamentary group of La Libertà Avanza – 38 seats out of 257 in the Chamber and 7 out of 72 in the Senate – with that of the Pro. In this regard, the Milei himself spoke today of the need for a “political reorganization” and underlined that he is in full agreement and has “frequent dialogue with Macri”.