The meeting held by the presidential candidates and the authorities of Together for Change with his economists he gave birth to a principle of agreement on a economic plan with which they basically seek two things: to give certainty beyond the internal for the candidacies to fight with the Government and counteract the Javier Milei’s “dollarizing” speech.
The meeting that took place at the Hotel Emperador in the Retiro neighborhood of Buenos Aires was one of the most important for the elections despite not having dealt with candidacies. In the alliance they understood that the economic crisis is decisive for the campaign and that the debate on how to respond can’t find them messy.
For more than three hours, the heads of the parties, the economists who advise the presidential candidates and the parliamentary heads They discussed how to give the “communication discussion of the bomb legacy left” by the Frente de Todos Government and “how to respond to Milei’s delusions,” a source who attended the conclave synthesized to iProfessional.
In this context, the focus of the meeting was the need to agree on main points of the economic plan that they would carry out in case of returning to the Government as of December, whoever wins the STEP wins. As this medium had advanced, the idea of the coalition is end conflicting ideas which they showed on several occasions.
For this reason, after the meeting on Tuesday they clarified that in Together for Change “there is debate and competition” and that “Each presidential candidate will contribute his imprint to the common plan”. The central thing is that there is, precisely, a common plan. The sources consulted highlighted that this was “what was missing in 2015”when Mauricio Macri became President.
What are the main points of the economic plan of Together for Change?
In this first meeting, the referents of the opposition alliance prioritized attack “inflation that destroys wages, generates poverty and messes up life”, they indicated in the official communiqué of the meeting.
The summit served for a principle of agreement and consensus on the strategy in the face of pressure from Milei
The pillars of the agreement were designed by PRO economists Hernan Lacunza (from Horacio Rodríguez Larreta’s team), Luciano Laspina (who advises Patricia Bullrich) and Guido Sandleris; Eduardo Levy Yeyati (Gerardo Morales’s man), Marina Dal Poggetto, Martin Rapetti y Maximilian Castillo Carrillo by the UCR; matias surt (Civic Coalition), Juan Carlos Sanchez Arnau (Republican Encounter) and Christian Folgar (GEN).
The consensus revolved around working to “lower tax pressure and labor obstacles”. Hours before, Rodríguez Larreta followed that line by promising that if he wins the elections he will move forward with a “labor reform” to “modernize the system” and end the so-called “labor trial industry.”
There was agreement on general principles such as “fiscal balance” and “a responsible monetary and financial policy” that will allow laying “the foundations for productive development in all the country’s provinces” and, in this same scheme, they began to design a “Federal development plan hand in hand with all productive sectors”.
The key sectors for this will be, as specified, the technological scientist, agribusiness, energy, “critical minerals for the energy transition” where lithium stands out, industry, biotechnology, the knowledge economy and tourism.
The concern for Milei and the inheritance of the Government
“The bulk of the meeting was to see how to respond to Milei,” a source from the opposition alliance slipped to iProfessional, who acknowledged the concern generated by the speech of the La Libertad Avanza candidate about possible dollarization.
Although in the official communiqué of the meeting they avoided mentioning the libertarian and demanded that the Frente de Todos administration “assume its responsibility for govern without aggravating problems” and without “repeating measures that have already failed or falling into magic recipes”, Milei is today the main threat to Together for Change.
Together for Change understands that a common and clear economic message is needed for the campaign
The leaders of the opposition alliance closed the door to an agreement with the leader who launches furious criticism of all his referents except Bullrich and Macri. However, the idea of ”dollarization” it began to penetrate part of the electorate and also the media, despite its difficult implementation. Together for Change needs to counter it.
That is why at the end of the meeting the head of the bloc of UCR deputies, Mario Negriremarked that for a dollarization, according to the economists of the opposition front, “U$S45,000 million of reserves would be needed, something unthinkable today” and that it would imply “a exchange rate of $2,700 per dollar“.
Your peer in the Senate, Luis Naidenoffwas more emphatic: “Dollarization it’s nonsense and from the National Table of Together for Change we are not going to accompany a scenario of madness for Argentina”. The agreement to attack Milei’s idea also reached the PRO, where they pointed out that “it doesn’t make sense” because “your salary ends up being $40.”
With an agreed plan, where would the differences go in the face of the PASO?
The basic agreement for the economic plan of Together for Change then takes as its starting point respond to the dollarizing discourse Milei and focus on issues more concrete and practicable such as tax reductions, changes to the labor system and incentive measures for strategic exports.
As the referents advanced after the economic summit, on that each leader of those who dispute the presidential candidacy in the PASO “will contribute his imprint.” That process also began at this summit. A sample of it was given Laspina, Bullrich’s main economic adviser, when affirming that he is putting together a proposal not only for the stabilization of the currency, but also for an economic regime.”
A few days ago, Laspina had announced that the possibility of “creating a new currency” was being studied. An alternative plan to “dollarization” with which he also flirted with Bullrich at some point but which now seems to have been set aside.
The political and economic referents of the coalition agreed to discuss with the “dollarization” of Milei
“Neither shock, nor gradualism,” said Morales for his part when advancing his vision of the economic plan that an eventual government of Together for Change should have, with a reference to the discussion that usually divides the “hawks” and the “doves” of the alliance. “It will be necessary to take measures, but we have a productive development program with federal criteria,” added the presidential candidate.
In addition to the economists, Rodríguez Larreta, Morales and the leader of the Federal Republican Meeting, participated in the meeting. Miguel Angel Pichettothe three launched as presidential candidates. bullrich was absent due to a campaign tour that she is carrying out through the interior of the country and that took her this Tuesday to the province of Misiones, where there will be elections next Sunday.
Likewise, the deputies gave the present Maria Eugenia Vidal and Facundo Manes, both presidential candidates for the PRO and the UCR, respectively. In the case of the first, attendance at the summit occurred at a particular moment in which there was a debate between continuing in the race or competing in the City.
Also present was the pre-candidate for head of the Buenos Aires government and vice president of Morales within the UCR, senator Martin Lousteau; the heads of the Civic Coalition, Maximilian Ferraroand the PRO, Federico Angeliniand the heads of the legislative blocks, Margarita Stolbizer, Ricardo Lopez Murphy, Juan Manuel Lopez, Cristian Ritondo, Negri and Naidenoff.
