12/20/2023 – 22:18
The president of Argentina, the ultra-liberal Javier Milei, ordered this Wednesday (20) the deregulation of the economy through a decree that modifies or revokes more than 300 rules, including rent and supply laws and the labor regime.
“These reforms, of which I mentioned only 30 of the more than 300 included, are some of those included in the decree,” said Milei in a statement broadcast on radio and television.
“The objective is to begin the path of rebuilding the country, return freedom and autonomy to individuals and begin to dismantle the enormous amount of regulations that have prevented and harmed economic growth in our country,” he added.
The revocations include regulation that prevents the privatization of state-owned companies, such as the oil company YPF or the airline Aerolíneas Argentinas.
The private medical care system will also be changed.
It is planned to modify the company law to allow football clubs to become public limited companies, and the deregulation of satellite internet services, allowing companies such as Starlink, owned by Elon Musk, to enter the country.
“During the last hundred years, politicians have been busy expanding the power of the State to the detriment of good Argentines. Our country, which in the 1920s was the world's leading power, over the last hundred years has been involved in a series of crises that all have the same origin: the fiscal deficit”, explained the president in his speech.
– Panelas –
Argentina is facing a serious economic crisis, with annual inflation of more than 160% and a poverty rate that exceeds 40%.
Milei, who assumed the presidency on December 10, had already presented a broad austerity plan last week, which includes the elimination of subsidies for transport and public service tariffs, in addition to halting the construction of state-financed infrastructure works. .
The objective is to cut public spending by 5% of Gross Domestic Product.
There was also a devaluation of more than 50% of the currency.
In several neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, this Wednesday's announcements were met with protests.
“This message is not surprising because it is nothing that Milei did not say she would do during the campaign. But it is surprising that the measure is taken in this way, with a decree of necessity and urgency”, commented political scientist Lara Goyburu to AFP.
“I think the hope of many of his voters was that Argentine institutions would prevent these things. And today perhaps they are discovering that everything that was promised will be done,” he added.
The decree will be effective after being published in the Official Bulletin. However, it must be taken to Congress for analysis by a bicameral commission within 10 days.
The text can only be invalidated if it is rejected by the Chamber of Deputies and also by the Senate, explained constitutional lawyer Emiliano Vitaliani to AFP.
Milei's far-right party, A Liberdade Avança, only has 40 of the 257 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and seven of the 72 seats in the Senate.
The center-right coalition Together for Change, partially allied with Milei, has 81 deputies and 24 senators.
There are also 26 deputies and eight senators who are dissidents from Peronism or belong to provincial parties.
Peronism, in opposition, is the first minority in both chambers, with 105 deputies and 33 senators. The left has five deputies.
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