Milei takes office as President of Argentina – Meeting with Selenskyj
Published: Sunday, Dec 10th 2023, 17:40
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In the midst of a severe economic crisis, the ultra-liberal economist Javier Milei has taken office as Argentine President. The 53-year-old was sworn in before parliament in Buenos Aires on Sunday. "Today marks the beginning of a new era. Today the reconstruction of Argentina begins," said Milei in his inaugural speech on the steps of Congress. "There is no alternative to the austerity program, there is no alternative to shock therapy. I'll say it again: we have no money."
Spain's King Felipe VI, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, Uruguay's Head of State Luis Lacalle Pou, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban were among those who attended the ceremony in the Argentinian capital. Sunday also marked the 40th anniversary of Argentina's return to democracy after the military dictatorship. "Long live freedom, damn it," Milei shouted to his cheering supporters at the end of the speech.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Buenos Aires caused a stir. It was the first time that the head of government had traveled to South America since the start of the Russian war of aggression against his country. In contrast to the previous left-wing government in Buenos Aires, Milei is seen as a staunch supporter of Ukraine. The two spoke on the phone immediately after his election victory three weeks ago. "I thanked him for his clear stance. No weighing up good and evil. Just clear support for Ukraine. This is very well perceived and appreciated by the Ukrainians," Selensky wrote at the time on the X platform, formerly Twitter.
With his trip to Argentina, Zelensky is likely to want to secure the support of countries in the so-called Global South. Many of them find it difficult to support the hard line taken by Western industrialized nations towards Russia. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for example, has criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but has held back from making clear statements to Moscow. Most recently, he has repeatedly called for an international mediation initiative to settle the war in Ukraine, but has yet to make any concrete proposals.
During Milei's inauguration, Selenskyj had the opportunity to meet several conservative heads of government from the region who are also on the side of Ukraine. These included Uruguay's head of state Lacalle Pou, Paraguayan President Peña and Ecuador's head of state Daniel Noboa. "I hope to see as many Latin American countries as possible at the next talks on the peace formula in Switzerland in January 2024," wrote Selenskyj on X. "The support and strong common voice of Latin American countries standing by the Ukrainian people in their struggle for freedom and democracy is very important for us."
Milei won the election in Argentina with eccentric behavior and radical demands for an economic and political turnaround. He announced plans to introduce the US dollar as legal tender, abolish the central bank and many ministries and drastically cut social spending. He has since softened his tone considerably and postponed or toned down many of his original plans. He also brought a number of experienced politicians into his cabinet, whom he had previously reviled as members of the "caste" he despised. As he does not have a majority in parliament, Milei has to form alliances anyway.
Immediately after taking office, Milei intends to introduce a comprehensive legislative package into parliament that will fundamentally restructure the Argentinian state. This includes a significant reduction in the number of ministries and authorities, the privatization of public companies and a major reduction in bureaucracy to facilitate investment. "I don't know how many laws we will repeal, but it will be a lot," said the new Foreign Minister Diana Mondino.
Milei has apparently put one of his most important promises in the election campaign, the introduction of the US dollar as legal tender, on the back burner for the time being. In recent weeks, he has barely mentioned his former pet project. "This is only realistic, because the country simply does not have enough foreign currency to implement dollarization in a sensible way," said Argentinian economist Eduardo Levy Yeyati.
The new president takes over Argentina in a severe economic crisis. The inflation rate is over 140 percent and around 40 percent of people in the once rich country live below the poverty line. South America's second-largest economy is suffering from a bloated state apparatus, low industrial productivity and a large shadow economy that deprives the state of many tax revenues. The national currency, the peso, continues to lose value against the US dollar and the mountain of debt is constantly growing.
©Keystone/SDA
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