by Axel Kicillof will not meekly accept the invitation to the May Pact. He made it clear this Monday at the opening of the sessions of the Buenos Aires Legislature. In the fight with Javier Milei, the governor demands, demands, to sit on that council, some conditions. “We will be in all the areas that are necessary, but to continue demanding the specific requests that the people of Buenos Aires have,” he challenged from the legislative assembly.
He maintained that, as the President proposed in Congress on Friday, March 1, the invitation to the governors for May 25 in Córdoba would be something different from a great national agreement: “Argentina is federal, so Milei must respect the provinces and their people, that means complying with laws and regulations, and stop extorting governors so that they approve laws that harm the interests of their provinces.”
It would seem unlikely that he could join a conclave that – a priori – he considers to be in the format of an extortion. “Just start, if we don’t arrive“he said ironically, and provoked the only standing ovation from the legislators and pro-government leaders who were in the room.
In the presentation in front of representatives, authorities, union members and mayors, Kicillof fiercely questioned the “extravagant experiment to which Argentina is being subjected” after the inauguration of the La Libertad Avanza government. He described, for almost two hours, each of the measures that they will take – he assured – to a “social catastrophe”.
And he raised a counterpoint with each of the decisions promoted by the Government. Milei’s “minimal State” was insisted upon in La Plata with a “present State” and “more State.” In response to the cuts in the sending of funds, the governor exhibited the automatic transfer of items to the 135 municipalities, which are not automatic, but which correspond.
To the union conflict that the Nation tolerates with protests, a general strike and that this Monday included a teacher strike, Kicillof demonstrated that “for the fifth consecutive year the school year began without conflict.” And so in each item, in each line, he stood like a lighthouse, at the antipodes of the libertarian.
That is why, in order to sit down for an eventual dialogue with the Government and his colleagues, he listed his own table of conditions that includes: immediate reactivation of public works (900) suspended throughout the territory; respect for federalism and Return of cut funds.; the restitution of resources for dining rooms and medicines; the repeal of the megaDNU “unconstitutional”; the rejection of dollarization and the dredging of the Magdalena Canal, a work that had been announced last year.
is an indigestible list for Milei. “It is a way of rejecting the invitation to the May Pact, without saying it explicitly,” the Unión por la Patria legislators concluded on the premises. “It looks more like a threat or an imposition than a dialogue,” the governor declared in the Assembly.
Since Milei announced the call for the Pact, there was a decision from La Plata to remain silent about the offer. Some officials dared to raise doubts about the President’s intentions. But none were exhaustive.
From other provinces there were varied reactions. At least eight provincial heads of state anticipated that they would be present: Ignacio “Nacho” Torres, who maintained the most strained relationship with the Executive, was listed on that list. Jorge Macri, from the City; Martín Llarllora, who will provide the host city and Maximiliano Pullaro, from Santa Fe.
Rogelio Frigerio, from the PRO and executive officer of Entre Ríos, along with Osvaldo Jaldo, from Tucumán who appears as another partner of the libertarians, Leandro Zdero, from Chaco, and Alfredo Cornejo, from Mendoza who also contributed a minister to the national cabinet , they have already confirmed to be present.
Kicillof’s definition would be the loophole that other opposition leaders could take advantage of to end the lack of definition. A block of rejection of the idea of foundational pretensions would then open. The initial call from the Casa Rosada to the governors is scheduled for next Friday, as defined this Monday by ministers Guillermo Francos and Luis Caputo together with the libertarian Chief of Staff, Nicolás Posse.
Milei included in the 10 axes of the pact some of the proposals that were part of the ill-fated Omnibus Law and the DNU, which is – in part – stopped by Justice.
Judging by the definitions before the provincial parliament, Kicillof disbelieves in almost all of the nomenclature proposed by the President.
The staging of the institutional event also sought to mark differences. Before entering the parliamentary building, through the doors on 7th Avenue, Kicillof got out of the official car and greeted protesters who arrived from suburban mayors to express support for the president.
However, the imprint that gained the political scene since last November 22, when Milei won the runoff, seems to have been imbibed in the governor’s speech. He at least incorporated some concepts. He spoke of “caste” and “the boxes of politics”strange terms in the dictionary of Cristina Fernández’s former Minister of Economy.
He did it to differ with the presidential criteria. “For Milei, governors only defend the “political boxes.” But things must be put in their place: it is not about adjustment to the “boxes” but rather how this policy affects society, the middle sectors, the workers.”
But it resonated over an area that for half a year has been subjected to Severe questions about the case of the leader Julio “Chocolate” Rigau., arrested when he took money from 49 debit cards that belonged to employees who are supposed to be “gnocchi” of the Chamber of Deputies. And that this collection was used to finance activities and personal finances of Buenos Aires political leaders.
is In no paragraph did the concept of austerity for public spending appear. On the contrary: “Buenos Aires is the province that spends the least and has the fewest employees per inhabitants,” he justified. He argued that the province contributes 40% of GDP resources and receives – from national taxes – only 25%, including funds “that Milei calls discretionary.”
This relationship that he considers unfair can only be discussed with a new law of co-participation. All governors have to agree. And it is one of the axes that Milei proposed. Point 5 of the May Pact establishes a rediscussion of tax distribution. Kicillof does not have an adequate environment at that table to advance this historical distortion.
