When the newly elected Argentine President, Javier Mele, suggested during his election campaign last August that his country would not activate his country’s accession to the BRICS group on January 1, 2024, public opinion at the time considered that this promise was part of the list of many populist promises announced by the candidate. .
But the BRICS group announced a few days ago that Argentina had actually left, by decision of its president. Although the group’s invitation last August to Argentina to join was made at the request of former President Alberto Fernandez, the entry into force of the accession was restricted to the beginning of this year, which allowed the current President, Milley, to take the final say in the decision, and the accession died before he was born. !
Political travail
Details of Argentina’s joining the economic bloc known as BRICS – which includes Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa – go back to last August, at the Johannesburg summit, when 23 countries submitted their files to join, but the bloc issued only six invitations to Iran, Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia. , Argentina, which was accepted on the recommendation of the Brazilian President.
Argentina’s invitation at that time was laden with political details, as the bloc’s administration postponed inviting Venezuela and Bolivia, from among the Latin countries – which were very keen to join – and hastened the inclusion of Argentina, which was going through a political process that raised the possibility of the departure of the leftist Fernandez government, and the arrival of the rightist. Extreme Millie.
The winds were not what the group’s ships wanted, and Milley won the presidency and officially annulled his country’s accession by sending a letter to Russian President Putin, who holds the rotating presidency of the group. Although the Russian President expressed his regret over the decision, the matter was expected. Because newly elected President Milley has proudly stated and continues to state that his government’s two most important partners are the United States and Israel.
Shocking decisions
His tone before assuming the presidency was violent and crude, as he cursed the BRICS group and called its members miserable socialists, had it not been for the intervention of his foreign minister after his victory was confirmed, through her visit to China, then Brazil. In an attempt to address the situation.
In fact, the decision to refuse to join the BRICS group was not the most resounding decision in the political arena in Argentina. Rather, it is considered the lightest among the shocking decisions taken by President Milley. Within only 20 days in power, the unions and their supporters were forced to demonstrate vigorously on two occasions. Condemning the president’s impulsiveness and decisions that herald the birth of a dictator who is in a hurry to implement his plans.
Dissatisfaction with the president’s performance extended to some public figures, who were his mouthpieces during his election campaign, most notably the journalist Alejandro Fantino, who said one week after President Milley’s performance: “No, no… my friend, this is not how your presidential term begins. You cannot attack the public sector in your first week with such brutality, this is painful!! You describe yourself as a lion and say that your party is “Freedom Advances”, and I criticize you and will continue to criticize you, you are not a lion, and you are not free!
Nascent dictatorship
Before presenting President Milley’s resounding decisions – as described by the international media – the opposition sarcastically recalled a clip from the debate that preceded the first round of the presidential elections last October, in which the right-wing candidate Patricia Bullrich was asked what she would do if Parliament refused to pass her program, and she said: It will adopt the method of presidential decrees, and if Parliament continues to refuse, it will put forward a referendum, until it ends up implementing its program in any way. Milley intervened at the time and said to her: “So you will be at the head of a monarchy, and you will not rule under a democratic system that respects the separation of powers.” This is a dictatorship!
Now that Milley won the presidency, thanks to the support of Bullrich’s supporters in the second round, here we are today facing a president who appointed the “ally of necessity” as interior minister in his government, and he himself occupied the position of president who will rule through decrees, and threatens to organize a referendum soon!
Perhaps among the most realistic comments from analysts: Says the analyst on the German DW channel, Dr. Ezekiel Pistoletti: Peruvian dictator Fujimori needed five years to implement what Milley announced within only 20 days of assuming the presidency! In the same context, he pointed out that President Milley did not succeed in concealing his feeling of elation at the role of the new dictator, which he reinforced by wearing a military uniform in an event that did not require that.
President Milley’s decisions can be classified into two categories: one is urgent, and he can implement them, and the second is linked to their implementation with the approval of Parliament, then the Senate, in which the opposition has the largest bloc, but falls short of a majority.
The first is to sign a decree granting him the right to change or delete 360 laws, without discussion, the most important of which is: suspending the contracts of 7,000 public sector employees, including 5,000 who were officially suspended by the end of the year. In addition to reducing the state’s role in public works, by stopping all projects, opening the door wide to the private sector, and reducing the level of public services in the transportation and education sectors, which affected retirees’ pensions.
“shock therapy”
This decree also includes the Demonstration Law, under which the penalty for demonstrating can extend to six years in prison, if the demonstrator opposes the orders of the security forces. Video clips were circulated on social media showing security personnel on the day of the recent demonstration, photographing the faces of bus passengers who were wearing T-shirts bearing slogans of anger against the government, in behavior that is completely unusual in Argentina.
The second was the submission of 11 draft laws to Parliament last Wednesday, which include 664 chapters, requesting a mandate from representatives to President Milley, granting him the powers to change laws unilaterally, without returning to the legislative authority, and include areas: economic, tax, social, and even electoral; Under the pretext of “the economic crisis the country is going through.”
Aside from the chapters related to dissolving the central bank institution, which President Milley intends to implement, the opposition media circulated chapters within the framework of reforming the tax law, representing blatant reductions for businessmen and the wealthy class in Argentina, where the poverty level reached 40%, and among them: Reducing the tax on luxury properties and the real estate purchase tax; And inheritance tax.
President Milley justifies these decisions as necessary to address the economic and social crisis in Argentina, and they embody his economic outlook for which he chose the title: “Shock Therapy” and the slogan: “The Saw” to indicate the elimination of the problem from its roots.
But many voices are now talking about the shock that could affect the “dissolution of Parliament” if it opposes this treatment!
