The Argentine president said that he will propose limiting the mandates of union leaders - with whom the libertarian has clashed - and that he will cut for the second time the benefits of politicians convicted of the crime of corruption.
Argentine President Javier Milei said Friday he would send a new package of bills (which he called "anti-caste") to Congress, almost a month after lawmakers rejected his so-called "omnibus bill." who would have carried out radical reforms.
Milei, speaking before lawmakers in a State of the Union-style speech, laid out several of the proposals in the new package, which also appears to be broad in scope.
The Argentine president said that he will propose limiting the mandates of union leaders - with whom the libertarian has clashed - for a maximum of four years and a single re-election.
Likewise, Milei added that it will be established that "people convicted of corruption in the second instance will not be able to run in national elections," specifying that "any former official with a final conviction in the second instance for corruption crimes will lose any benefit they have for having been an official." ".
The political outsider took office in December with the goal of applying a "chainsaw" to the country's status quo as it faces an economic crisis.
Inflation above 250%, which predated Milei but increased after it drastically devalued the peso in December, has raised poverty levels that are estimated to be close to 60%, increasing tensions between workers and unions and causing more strikes. and protests.
On Friday, Milei also addressed lawmakers directly, telling them he would try to change the policy with or without their support.
RETIREMENTS AND PENALTY FOR OFFICIALS
Another of the laws within the package that Javier Milei will send to Congress is the elimination of privileged retirements for president and vice president and the penalization as an "imprescriptible" crime for officials and legislators who approve, he said, "a budget that contemplates financing deficits." fiscal with monetary issue".
When speaking before the Legislative Assembly, Milei questioned the legislators in his speech, whom he referred to as "rich" in a context of poverty, and announced that he will send to Congress a package of laws against what he calls, since the presidential campaign , as "caste", in reference to a sector of politics.
Among the initiatives he announced, he said that specific collective agreements made in free association by a company's workers "will take precedence over the collective agreements of the sector."
Among other measures, he highlighted that he will eliminate privileged retirements for the President and Vice President, as well as initiatives on unions and labor laws, warning: "We are going to end this madness of imposing on people the working conditions that define behind a desk for a man who hasn't worked for 30 years.
He also announced that he will "drastically reduce the number of contracts for advisors to deputies and senators. It has been a common practice in politics to set up SMEs with 30 or 40 advisors each, wasting the resources of Argentines," the president said in his speech. .
Along these lines, Milei anticipated that "the day's pay will be deducted from employees who are not going to work due to unemployment" and that "public financing of political parties will be eliminated," while specifying that "each party will have to be financed with voluntary contributions, or own members".
Meanwhile, the President highlighted the importance, in his opinion, of the labor chapter of the DNU and the Law of Bases and Starting Points which, he said, "reflected some of the changes that we want to advance."
He maintained that this law "has as its goal to re-embrace the model of freedom that was manipulated and rejected by a part of the political class that resists change."
"We must not deceive ourselves. There is an important sector of the political leadership that does not want to abandon the privileges of the old regime," the President stated in his message.
Another of the projects that will be sent to Congress will contemplate "penalizing by law the president, the Minister of Economy, BCRA officials and deputies and senators who approve a budget that contemplates financing fiscal deficit with monetary emission."
In this way - as he said - this morally unsustainable and criminal practice will be put an end "once and for all", by anticipating that it will propose "that said crime be on the level of a crime against humanity in such a way that it is imprescriptible for sooner or later they will pay the cost of their actions.
"Financing the Treasury with issuance is simply wrong. Technically and morally wrong," said the President, maintaining that it constitutes "putting money in the hands of politics" and warned: "It's over with us."
The president, pausing frequently amid cheers from his bloc, told Congress that if they opposed him, they would face "a different kind of animal."
