After the approval of the Bases law and the fiscal package -cuts- in the Senate, the Government is in optimistic mode with its plan to recover Personal Assets and Profits in Deputies, but they do not rule out redouble the bet in the final stretch and move towards a restoration of the modified Large Investment Regime (RIGI). and the plan in The Casa Rosada is to rely on the resentments that were generated between the blocks of PRO and UCR deputies with their peers from the Senate, who voted to modify several of the chapters to which they had given the green light.
At the meeting of the block heads of the Lower House, as Infobae was able to reconstruct, the block heads showed good disposition from the beginning, to the point that they applauded Francos when he entered the office. But in the Government, more than because of that gesture, they rubbed their hands when they detected that the dialogue-oriented deputies They were hurt by the decision of senators of the same political group to change what they had agreed to before.
“There is strong support, they want to move forward with everything, and the anger in Deputies helps us. The senators exposed them a lot, they accused them of having missed things,” said an official who paid special attention when the head of the PRO block, Cristian Ritondo, He made it clear to the press that he considered “his” version of the investment incentive regime to be better: “I believe that the RIGI had to remain as it was. The most coherent thing is for us deputies to once again insist on what we worked on for two months and vote,” he said.
The libertarians are also licking their lips, because they detected a similar annoyance on the part of the radicals of Rodrigo de Loredo with his peers on the other side of the chamber and, in particular, with his rival in the internal co-religionist, Martin Lousteau. “Our priorities are Profits and Personal Assets, but then the other blocks can have their own agenda,” they said in Balcarce 50, where they bet on benefiting from the rivalries in the other parties to promote a reissue of the previous versions of some chapters, especially the cut RIGI, which was restricted to nine areas (forestry-industry, tourism, steel, oil, gas, infrastructure, mining, energy and technology) and underwent a fundamental change, because it was determined that 20% hiring of local suppliers must be respected.
However, they are less positive with the – for now – frustrated privatizations of Aerolíneas Argentinas, Correo and RTA. And they will probably resign themselves to leaving that fight for separate projects during the second semester.
The main bishops of the Government followed the vote together on TV in Francos’ office on the ground floor of the Casa Rosada, each one attentive to their cell phone, until the show ended, at dawn. Expectantly in front of the screen were the Chief of Staff, and Milei and Karina’s advisors, Santiago Caputo and Eduardo “Lule” Menem. Also, the wife of the coordinating minister, Cristina, who had gone to the Executive Palace to celebrate, even if it was in a strange context, her birthday and wedding anniversary. They ate crumb sandwiches, but did not open any spirits. “There was soda. There were no excessive celebrations, it was rather a contained satisfaction,” they said.
The rally in the Senate for the Bases law left exhausted Franks, that in any case he went to Deputies the same day to restart the dialogues. His role in the complicated negotiation of the Bases law is considered indispensable by Milei, and they agreed that there is no room for him to dedicate himself full time to the Headquarters (which, on the other hand, forces the pending changes in that orbit to be postponed since which rose due to the ejection of Nicolás Posse, 10 days ago).
The coordinating minister also maintains the spokesperson for the issue in a government where most of the officials remain silent for fear of reprisals from a leadership that has shown that it does not hesitate to punish those who deviate from the order to centralize the discourse.
Thus, far from taking the reins of the negotiations, the newly appointed Secretary of the Interior, Lisandro Catalán, maintains a low profile for now, despite the fact that a plan had been outlined for him to begin to take a greater role. “Lisandro is Guillermo’s right-hand man, but there was no room to change hands now. By political logic, he could not start commanding his number two right now.”
As the chief of staff, the vice chief, José Rolandi, remains firm on the playing field, who remained despite Posse’s departure. “Cochi” was in the Senate negotiating with the opponents until the last minute, and accompanied Francos to Deputies the next day. “There is a lot of confidence from the opponents in him. He has been there talking for so many months, that a bond was generated, that is not going to be lost,” they said. Finally, the Secretary of Strategic Regulatory Planning, María Ibarzábal, remains as representative of the Government, reporting to Santiago Caputo.
Karina Milei’s involvement in the political arena, on the other hand, remained in standby. The intervention of the President’s sister had begun with some visits at key moments of the debate, and reached its peak with the two consecutive meetings that she herself promoted with the head of PRO Deputies, Cristian Ritondo, and her troops. But these calls were not repeated with the senators, nor were they extended to the incumbents of other dialogue parties, who for now were left wanting to speak with “The Boss.”
Unlike the vote in the upper house, the secretary general was not in the Senate box to monitor the last ones. But she did send her main advisor in the Casa Rosada, Eduardo “Lule” Menem. Who, however, avoided meeting with the vice president, Victoria Villarruel. In the upper house they were emphatic in denying a meeting. “No way,” they said, bluntly, when asked by Infobae about a possible contact.
The only time that Karina Milei and Villarruel met to speak alone since the beginning of the mandate was about the end of the negotiations in the Deputies’ committee, when it was shaping up that the project would reach the Senate. And although the talk was on good terms, it did not serve to improve the relationship. On the contrary, the bond was strained since Karina Milei omitted any gesture to respond to the vice president’s demands for her to participate with greater influence in the Buenos Aires team for 2025.
Away from Congress, Karina dedicated herself full time, however, to the issue that has worried her most since December 10: the officialization of La Libertad Avanza as a party and the consequent internal struggles. On Friday afternoon, when it had already gotten dark, the powerful official received her bishop in the Legislature, Pilar Ramírez, in her office on the first floor of Balcarce 50 to take stock of this week’s battle – one of many – against the Buenos Aires legislator Ramiro Marra, where they set the goal of removing him from the presidency of the bloc, which finally collapsed.
If things go well in Deputies for the Government, the conditions would be in place to celebrate the failure May Pact, and Francos already slipped that it would be July 9, Independence Day. The location, however, is subject to deliberations. The Chief of Staff has already said that his intention is to go to Tucumán, but there is internal pressure to do so in the City.
The thing is that some libertarians see – and resist – the election of the province where the dialoguist Peronist Osvaldo Jaldo governs as a very direct nod to Peronism. They are right: in Milei’s inner circle they were talking this week about a “multicolor map” by 2025, when elections are contested province by province.
