Argentine President Javier Milei warned Thursday that his entire Cabinet will be under review depending on the result of his pro-business reform bill grinding its way through Congress.
Newspapers La Nación and Clarín reported earlier in the day that the libertarian leader was weighing whether to oust Cabinet Chief Nicolás Posse, who didn’t attend a concert Milei hosted Wednesday night to celebrate his new book, unlike many of the president’s ministers. If true, it would become the highest-level departure since Milei took office December 10.
“The bill could end well or could not come out,” Milei said in an interview with TV station LN+. “We will then have to evaluate the results. The entire Cabinet will be put under analysis — not just Posse — all of the ministers.”
Milei’s reform package passed the lower house of Congress in April, but has since stalled in a Senate committee as moderate blocs seek to water it down while the opposition party intends to vote it down. While the bill passed the lower house by a healthy margin, the opposition Peronist party holds 33 of the 72 senate seats compared to the seven in Milei’s party, meaning he’ll need help from other parties for final approval.
Milei added Thursday that if the bill passes Congress, the government would lower a tax known locally as “Impuesto PAIS” that’s applied when Argentines exchange pesos for dollars at a bank, among other transactions. He also would appoint former Central Bank goverrnor Federico Sturzenegger, who authored many of the reforms in the bill, as a minister.
No date is set for a vote in the senate, though Milei hinted it could come in June or July after he initially aimed to have it passed by May 25, a historic date in Argentina.
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