President Javier Milei delivered his seventh nationwide broadcast since taking office on Friday, using it to justify a series of vetoes published in the Official Gazette earlier in the week under Decree 534/25.
Coming in the run-up to key midterm elections, the vetoes could backfire on the libertarian administration. The measures block a 7.2 percent increase in pensions, the declaration of a disability emergency and the extension of the pension moratorium. The President once again launched fierce attacks on Congress and the political system as a whole in response.
Milei was flanked by Economy Minister Luis ‘Toto’ Caputo, Deputy Economy Minister José Luis Daza, Central Bank (BCRA) Governor Santiago Bausili and BCRA Vice-President Vladimir Werning as he spoke. The setting, delivered from the Salón Blanco of the Casa Rosada, underscored the economic weight of the message as the Buenos Aires Province election campaign gets underway. Provincial polls are set for September 7, ahead of the national legislative vote on October 26.
Seeking to regain the political initiative, Milei announced two measures Friday that, by his own admission, largely formalise what is already in practice: a ban on the Central Bank transferring funds to the Treasury and a bill to introduce criminal penalties for officials who draft budgets with a fiscal deficit.
The proposals are an attempt to challenge the opposition, which currently controls the legislative agenda in both chambers.
The President’s speech repeated themes he has aired countless times previous and mostly focused on balancing the public accounts. In a striking escalation of hostilities, he accused opposition lawmakers of committing “genocide” by passing bills incurring fiscal costs – rhetoric aligned with La Libertad Avanza’s campaign style in Buenos Aires Province alongside its new PRO allies, which has borrowed the slogan “Kirchnerismo nunca más” in a deliberate echo of the 1976-1983 military dictatorship’s crimes.
Reaffirming his electoral message, Milei said the government had taken office with a “clear mandate” to “eliminate inflation … without shortcuts or gradualism.” He claimed his administration had reduced poverty and extreme poverty, adding it is on track to eradicate inflation by mid-next year.
He also denounced “a lamentable spectacle in Argentine politics” in recent congressional sessions, without mentioning the lower house Chamber of Deputies or his estranged Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, who leads the Senate.
“My job is not to seem nice, even if they say I am cruel,” Milei declared. “To Congress I say: if you want to go back, you will have to carry me out feet first.” He offered no words of empathy for those affected by the vetoed laws – pensioners, people with disabilities and their families – some of whom were met with police repression as they demonstrated outside Congress earlier this week.
Friday’s nationwide broadcast marked an attempt by Milei to wrest back control of the agenda, which has been lost since the eruption of the ‘$LIBRA’ cryptocurrency scandal on February 14.
Milei openly tied the moment to the October 26 elections, urging voters to deliver a new congressional composition to “end the paradox” and signalling his intent to polarise against Kirchnerism to squeeze out centrist alternatives. “There is no third way at the crossroads,” he declared.
Explaining his vetoes, Milei took aim at the Senate’s last ordinary session on July 10, convened by the opposition, which approved the pension and disability bills.
“The legislative process followed for the approval of these projects is tainted by serious nullities that prevent the Executive Branch from proceeding with their enactment,” reads Decree 534/25.
The government argues the session was improperly convened and that committee rulings were invalid, requiring a qualified majority rather than a simple majority for floor debate. The decree also cites a Supreme Court case involving the National State and the Province of San Juan on the Executive’s veto powers under Article 83 of the Constitution.
Milei signalled he is still considering a legal challenge, though precedent leaves him little room to manoeuvre.
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