Argentine President Javier Milley makes a gesture while delivering his first policy speech to Congress at the opening of the 142nd regular session of Congress in Buenos Aires on March 1, 2024.
Juan Mabromata | AFP | Getty Images
Argentine President Javier Mire has been accused of hypocrisy for orchestrating a massive increase in presidential pay while pursuing an austerity programme, a scandal that has rocked the right-wing populist government.
Opposition MPs lashed out at Milley over weekend Share details on social media That means his total monthly salary last month rose to just over 6 million Argentine pesos ($7,073 at Argentina’s official exchange rate). This reflects a 48% increase in the president’s salary from January.
Millay said in a television interview on Monday that he had ordered the firing of Labor Minister Omar Yassin over the scandal. It is said Calling the salary increase for himself and senior government officials “a mistake that shouldn’t be made.”
The libertarian economist, who is often compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump, tried to justify the pay increase by saying: claim It was automatically triggered by a decree signed 14 years ago by former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Opposition lawmakers, however, said a salary increase decree in February used the president’s own signature.
“I have just learned that former President Cristina Kirchner signed a decree in 2010 stating that political officials should always have higher incomes than public administration employees, and that political staff in this government will automatically have their incomes increased.” Lai explain in a post published on social media platform X on Saturday, according to Google Translate.
“In times of crisis like the current one, where Argentine society is making heroic efforts, politicians must be the first to lend a helping hand,” he added. “The political joke is over.”
In this aerial view, members of social organizations gather outside the Ministry of Human Capital on February 23, 2024, in Buenos Aires to protest food shortages in mobile kitchens and President Javier Milley’s government austerity plans.
Thomas Cuesta | AFP | Getty Images
The scandal comes shortly after Milley’s sweeping economic reform bill suffered a major setback, although the president has since reiterate He is determined to pursue divisive austerity measures.
Mire, who won the presidential runoff late last year, said the government had no choice but to call for “shock therapy” if it wanted to control Argentina’s severe economic crisis.
Argentinians’ purchasing power ravaged by annual inflation rate More than 250%the highest level in more than 30 years, and at the same time two fifths of citizens Now living in poverty after decades of financial mismanagement.
Among some of the policies he proposed, Mire promised to dollarize the economy, abolish the country’s central bank and privatize the pension system.
“You sign, you get paid, and then you get caught.”
Victoria Tolosa Paz, an Argentine lawmaker who served in the cabinet of left-wing President Alberto Fernandez, accused Milley of double standards.
“Millais lied to us in the name of austerity,” Tolosa Paz explain Saturday via social media, according to Google Translate.
Argentine President Fernandez de Kirchner also criticized Milley, saying the decree she signed in 2010 had “nothing to do” with the current government’s pay scandal.
“Oh, President… you want to fight me so that we don’t talk about the decree you signed that gave you and your officials a 48% increase while destroying the pensions and salaries of Argentines… and Argentinian woman, Fernandez de Kirchner explain According to Google Translate, Saturday via X.
“Admit that you signed, got paid, and then got caught,” she added.
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