The block of PRO deputies, who have been voting in Congress for everything that the government asks of them although they consider that the link is not reciprocal, met this Monday at Casa Rosada with the Chief of Staff, Guillermo Francos, the minister of deregulation Federico Sturzenegger and there was a surprising presence: this time the President’s advisor – without formal position – entered the Hall of Shields – where the officials and deputies were gathered -, Santiago Caputo. From the PRO they have been demanding that someone who is part of the “iron triangle”, and who has decision-making power, be part of the conversations to see if, in this way, their complaints are heard.
The meeting began with the Minister of Deregulation explaining to the PRO and MID deputies what the bill is about. leaf litter law that this Monday the Executive sent to Congress, but they also discussed the 2025 budget that Milei presented in Deputies and that is being worked on in commissions. On this last topic, haughty people near Milei threaten that they They are not interested in its approval because they prefer to assign the games as they please, but from the PRO they maintain that “It is important as a signal to the world that Argentina has a Budget,” According to the head of the PRO bench, Cristian Ritondoafter the meeting.
Another issue on the agenda was to modify the penal code and also to move forward with privatizations: the project presented by Hernan Lombardi to sell Argentine Airlines and, in addition, they debated the university conflict. The PRO supported the veto against the universities, but now Ritondo reflected that Public universities “continue to be places for upward social mobility.”
One of the ideas that the PROs discussed with the government was to move forward with regulations that enable the General Audit Office of the Nation (SIGEN) to audit university funds. Beyond the own audits that the study houses already carry out and those carried out by the General Audit of the Nation.
“The SIGEN is an internal audit and the AGN is external. They are two different things: the head of SIGEN is appointed by the Executive and the other is an external auditor appointed by Congress, both by the Senate and by Deputies, therefore, both have power. The Audit Office – the internal audit – and the power to control the universities had been taken away from it. That is what we want to reverse,” Ritondo said at the end of the meeting.
The head of the yellow bench, once the match ended, He retired with Santiago Caputo and they met alone for more than half an hour.. “We do not ask to participate in the Government’s decisions, what we proposed from the beginning is that in the resolutions that are taken, and that later go to Parliament, we are sitting at that table, because we have a voice and vote to that kind of things and the PRO is required. “So we want to be in the political decision,” Ritondo claimed, and reflected that the PRO is “the main support of the government”.
This was the first meeting that took place after the PRO and the rest of the allied blocs supported Milei’s veto against university financing. Close to the President they continue to say that they are putting together a “party” for the 85 deputies who voted to contribute to the definancing of the public universitybut this time, unlike the roast for the “87 heroes” who voted against the retirees, The invitation will be extended and there will be about 100 guests. That agape, this time, will not be held at the Quinta de Olivos.
Beyond the roasts, banquets and pats on the back, the PRO feels that they are not listened to, their claims are not taken into account, nor their parliamentary agenda. That is to saythe Casa Rosada uses them – it would have been impossible to pass any law with a bloc of only 39 deputies like Milei has – but it does not take them into accountnor the claims of its political leader, Mauricio Macri.
Regarding the claims of the PRO legislators, a clear example of the lack of importance given to them by Casa Rosada is what happened with the modifications they proposed to the decree of access to public information. Francos had promised them that they would go back on that issue and nothing was fulfilled. What’s more, the chief of staff was disavowed by the spokesperson himself. Manuel Adorni in that specific case.
“Our intention is to continue moving forward to modify that rule,” he said. Silvana Giudici of the PRO and said that the solution that Rosada offered them was to speak with the head of the Public Information Agency, Beatriz de Anchorena. The deputies were not satisfied. Giudici summarized: “We told them that the meeting we had with Anchorena was not at all satisfactory because it could not explain a single one of the observations we made to the Decree.” Another priority of the pro group is to move forward with the dissolution of the Public Defender’s Office and with the Clean File projectwhich seeks to prevent people who have second-instance convictions for corruption crimes from running as candidates for public office.