Even though he denied it categorically and highlighted that there is coordination and teamwork, Federico Sturzenegger, Argentina's new Deregulation & State Transformation minister, has already started clashing with members of President Javier Milei's Cabinet. True to his style, the powerful new 'superminister' started to meddle in key areas such as health, labour and education, with moves which have triggered alarms across the libertarian ecosystem.
Sturzenegger, a former governor of the Central Bank, took on a role within Milei’s government over two weeks ago, on July 5, and ever since he has shown himself to be active. His quest is to show something the government is lacking: administration. On his inauguration, even if he was reluctant to get in touch with the media, he went ahead and gave details of his roadmap before the reporters present at the White Room of Casa Rosada, with some specifications about the so-called “Hojarasca (Leaf Litter) Law”, which seeks to eliminate hindrances in the economy.
During his early days wearing his official hat, he called economist Miguel Boggiano, one of the members of the President’s Council of Advisors, to add him to his work team. The talk was cordial and they agreed to keep on talking. Up until then, everything was coming up roses, as was agreed with the main members of the government: Chief of Staff Karina Milei; the head of State’s favourite advisor, Santiago Caputo; Cabinet chief Guillermo Francos; and Economy minister Luis “Toto” Caputo.
Yet over the past week, Sturzenegger has begun to follow closely what is going on in different ministries and he dared to offer solutions, propose improvements and criticise certain actions carried out by La Libertad Avanza. In other words, he widened his scope of action without much further ado. And he caused a reaction by more than one major official who saw the super-minister expand practically without any limitations.
“The thing is he’s very upfront and direct, sometimes you have to stop him because he’s unstoppable and he inevitably clashes”, said to PERFIL a major member of La Libertad Avanza who asked to remain nameless and who confesses he has already talked to the controversial minister “to bring it down a notch”. He even offered an example: the former head of the Central Bank during the Mauricio Macri wants medication imported from anywhere in the world so long as the prices of local medicine drop. This decision would put him on a collision course with the pharmaceuticals operating in the market.
“We already have a lot of problems, are we going to make a mess with pharmaceuticals?”, they wonder at Casa Rosada. Not only that: Sturzenegger saw how the negotiations between the Government and the CGT were carried out, in order to deactivate a new strike and with open telephones to talk about changes in the regulation of the Bases Law.
“He’s already warned that he doesn’t agree with what’s being done, he has an overtly anti-union spirit, he wants nothing to do with unions”, said someone from the ruling party, who admits disengagement between Sturzenegger and the strategy with the union built by Santiago Caputo and Labour secretary Julio Cordero, who last Tuesday met with the CGT.
He also wants to fully meddle with state employment, without previously consulting the Cabinet chief or Cordero. In a radio interview, he anticipated that he would move forward with three great changes: an entrance examination for anyone who wishes to work in the State, a new availability regime whereby the salary of any state employee who wishes to re-enter the private sector would be protected, and he announced the end of workers who are on the State’s payroll but who also work domestically or abroad. “The party’s over”, he said.
To make matters worse, he has a battery of bills in Education which were never consented to by secretary Carlos Torrendell, reporting to Human Capital, left in charge of Sandra Pettovello, someone handling the specifics of anything happening in her scope of influence. Thus, there may be a clash between two figures of the ruling party who are not accustomed to political negotiation.
What about her relationship with the head of Economy? For the time being, they left the tension behind and assessed a truce, with mutual compliments. This will last until the economic situation gets worse and the blaming starts. “We’re a team with Caputo”, Sturzenegger admitted.
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