After rumours of a merger between La Libertad Avanza (LLA) and Propuesta Republicana (PRO) resurfaced over the weekend, Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni said Wednesday that there are no formal talks on the cards.
The Milei government official ruled out a potential “summit” of leaders to move forward with talks on working together in Congress, although he did leave the possibility open of new names joining President Javier Milei’s administration.
At his daily press conference, Adorni confirmed that “there is no summit scheduled” between Milei and former president Mauricio Macri, the founder of PRO. But he stressed that “there will always be a possibility to add anyone wishing a change.”
Milei has already added to his Cabinet Patricia Bullrich, former head of the PRO, and Luis Petri, from the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR), the two top members of last year’s presidential ticket for the opposition Juntos por el Cambio coalition.
Despite reports circulating over the weekend that Macri was looking to hold talks with Milei over a potential party merger, Adorni said that nothing was on the cards: “If something more happens, I will tell you so. That’s not happening today.”
President Milei is caught up in a fight with the majority of provincial governors, whom he holds responsible for the recent failure of the ‘Omnibus bill’ in Congress. Local reporting over the weekend suggested he is ready to endow the Cabinet with more PRO leaders in a bid to build support.
According to PRO sources, Macri is willing to return to the helm of the party he founded, which recently has been under Bullrich’s command. The two are said to be on frosty terms at present and both parties are ready to talk about the government’s future.
Although Macri is said not to be considering a “co-government with Milei,” the founder of Juntos por el Cambio is willing to assess proposals from the libertarian administration and will call on his allies to back the president’s reform push.
“The idea is to see what we can do to help from PRO and support the transformations needed,” stressed a source from the right-wing party, who was keen to stress that the former president does not want his creation to “lose its essence or its direction.”
March will be a key month for PRO. The deadline to register as a candidate to be party chair comes in that month and the space’s three historical leaders of recent years – former Buenos Aires City mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, Bullrich and Macri – are at odds.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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