Argentina: after the intoxication of victory, Javier Milei is working on his future government

After the earthquake caused by the election of Javier Milei as president of Argentina, the vagueness surrounding his future management of the country has dissipated a little. Taking advantage of a strange calm during this public holiday Monday, the day of “national sovereignty”, the future leader made some announcements while waiting for a meeting with the current government to organize the transition until he takes power, the December 10.

As of Monday morning, the elected president also revealed his first measures: the reorganization of the State and the first steps towards a dollarization of the economy, or at least free competition between the currencies used in Argentina, for the long term. , eliminate the central bank.

He also ratified his liberal roadmap: “Everything that can be privatized will be privatized,” he said in an interview with Radio Miter. Starting with all public media, including the national press agency Telam, in which he sees a “propaganda mechanism”. “During the campaign, 75% of the time our political space was discussed, it was done in a very negative way, adding to an unfair campaign, the campaign of fear,” declared the future president.

Javier Milei also announced that after a restructuring, the state-owned hydrocarbon production and supply company, YPF, would be put up for sale. When markets opened Monday on Wall Street, anticipating a future privatization, the oil firm’s shares jumped 43%.

“We will surprise”

Since the announcement of his victory, the question of the composition of his future government was on everyone’s lips. Indeed, the future president had let almost nothing of his intentions leak out during his campaign, apart from a few portfolios which will go to close collaborators of his party, among the most loyal.

For the rest, “we are going to surprise with the team we are going to form. We are in the process of integrating specialists from the different parties. The most talented will be there,” he assured. Indeed, Javier Milei confirmed for his team seasoned politicians, incarnations of this “political caste” against which he, the “outside the system” candidate, campaigned.

New alliances that meet several requirements for the libertarian. First of all, to compensate for the shortcomings of its political party, La Libertad Avanza, created in 2021, which is cruelly lacking in trained and experienced executives to join a government.

Alliances in sight

Javier Milei should also incorporate several names suggested by former right-wing president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) into key portfolios, notably the Ministry of Economy. The latter provided him with key support in his victory. Indispensable support but which will not however be sufficient to ensure a majority.

Indeed, with only 38 deputies and seven senators, the future president will have to secure the support of other political forces in order to have his radical proposals approved by the Argentine Congress and not be forced to govern by decree.

Alliances that are all the more crucial since, according to the political scientist at the Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Lucía Vincent, “Argentina is a country where there are many social mobilizations. The unions, the actors of the social movements, will most certainly take to the streets, opening a period of very strong social conflict. We must see if he will succeed in forming a government which has precisely this governability.”