Milei promises monthly reform package in insult-laden speech

Argentina’s Congress descended into a slanging match on Sunday as President Javier Milei opened this year’s legislative sessions.

In an atmosphere more akin to a football match than a formal address, Argentina’s outspoken head of state lashed out at opposition hecklers, branding them “criminals” who had led the nation into disarray.

Milei, who received a resounding cheer from supporters and his party’s lawmakers as he entered the Legislative Assembly, sought to present his administration as heroic, claiming it had delivered “the greatest transformation in history.”

“Two years ago, we were trapped with no way out in an eternal present that destroyed our faith and that of our children, and today we know there is a way forward. Not only have we stopped feeling like losers, we also know that we can make Argentina great again,” he declared.

His party, La Libertad Avanza, has “the strength to begin a new chapter in Argentine history thanks to the will of the Argentine people, who expressed it at the ballot box,” Milei said.

Beyond the insults, Milei highlighted recent legislative victories – including the approval of his Labour Modernisation Law, Mercosur’s free-trade agreement with the European Union and a new Juvenile Penal Code – but offered little detail on future policy.

Without providing specifics, he said each government ministry “has prepared 10 packages of structural reforms,” adding that “every month we will present a package of bills to be considered by this Congress.”

“This will constitute the calendar year of reforms – nine months of reforms that will redesign the institutional architecture of the new Argentina,” he stressed.

The La Libertad Avanza leader said he would push for reforms to the Civil Code and Commercial Code to “construct a robust legal framework that allows for the primary development of Argentines.”

Milei also flagged a “reform of the tax system,” arguing that “we need lower taxes and greater economic openness,” as well as new trade agreements.

 

World all but absent

The speech was notably short on foreign policy, though Milei did say a “new world order” was taking shape and that Argentina’s decisions today would determine “the future of our country.”

He called for “the creation of the century of the Americas” and praised US President Donald Trump, one of his closest geopolitical allies.

“We have to create the century of the Americas. Make America Great Again,” the President said.

There was no mention of the release, hours earlier, of Nahuel Agustín Gallo, the Argentine border guard detained in Venezuela since December 2024.

Milei did, however, address international trade and domestic industry. Barely a week after the closure of tyre manufacturer Fate, the President sharply criticised “privileged businessmen” whom he said had survived on state subsidies.

“The subsidised national industry makes it clear that they are accomplices to looting,” Milei said, adding that he had “no qualms” about “labelling a group of local businessmen as thieves as a result of their commercial actions.”

“The fact that it is legal does not make it lawful, and when a legal framework violates natural law, life and property, we are faced with an illegitimate legal framework,” he argued.

“Privileged businessmen cannot buy privileges that corrupt politicians like you do not put up for sale. The greatest responsibility falls on politicians, but the question is simple: does anyone want to continue with an impoverishing model where only corrupt politicians and businessmen who are friends of those in power win?” he asked.

Milei maintained that “for this government, the answer is no” and added that “the subsidised national industry makes it clear” that many businessmen “are complicit in the plundering of Argentines.”

Since succeeding former president Alberto Fernández’s Peronist government in December 2023, Milei has overseen a sharp slowdown in inflation and a return to fiscal order.

Annual inflation fell from 211.4 percent in 2023 to 31.5 percent in 2025, and Argentina has recorded a fiscal surplus for two consecutive years for the first time since 2008.

But the adjustment has come at a significant cost: falling consumption, trade liberalisation and the closure of more than 21,000 companies over two years. An estimated 300,000 jobs have been lost, according to trade union sources.

 

Heckling and insults

Tensions ran high throughout the speech. Rather than a moment of national unity, Argentina’s political divisions were laid bare.

After an exultant reception from his backers, the President was repeatedly heckled by opponents. He responded on almost every occasion.

“I am the President, even if you don’t like it,” he snapped at one point.

Milei mocked his Peronist rivals for their belief in “social justice” and told them they were “criminals,” noting that their leader, former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, was “imprisoned” on corruption charges.

“Ignoramuses: social justice is theft. It implies unequal treatment before the law, you bunch of criminals. That’s why yours is in prison,” he said at the beginning of his speech.

“She will remain in prison for the ‘Cuadernos’ case, for the Iran Memorandum and the Vialidad case,” Milei added, referring to court cases against Fernández de Kirchner.

“She is a thief and they were the biggest thieves in history,” the President said.

“You cannot applaud because your hands are slipping out of other people’s pockets. Keep up with your operations and I will come after you when you are brought to justice for lying,” he warned at one stage.

“They don’t know how to read or use numbers,” he claimed later.

“I love to tame you and make you cry,” said the 55-year-old head of state.

Seeking to back their leader, La Libertad Avanza lawmakers and government officials regularly broke out into song.

Milei also singled out several leading figures, praising their work, including Security Minister Patricia Bullrich and Economy Minister Luis ‘Toto’ Caputo.

Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, whom the government admitted last week plays no role in Milei’s administration, oversaw proceedings. The frosty relationship was impossible to conceal – the official television feed did not even show their initial greeting.

 

– TIMES/AFP