Milei's urgent demand to his Cabinet and the internal dispute that is impacting the Senate

President Javier Milei. REUTERS/Alejandro Martinez VerezThe assessments conducted behind closed doors within the Government seem to repeat themselves week after week. The economic outlook shows its chiaroscuro, there is an opposition that says it is willing to collaborate in exchange for certain concessions, and the ruling party continues without approval of the most important short-term projects, while internal disputes hinder coordination and erode trust. It resembles what Adolfo Bioy Casares wrote in The Invention of Morel, where the characters eternally repeat the same scenes, recorded by a machine. Unlike that novel, the dynamic of the libertarian administration does not stem from a deliberate decision, but from omission. Javier Milei chooses to let the different sectors of his government compete internally because he believes that dynamic incentivizes them to improve, just as he interprets it in economics. That cyclical issue was evident in the internal discussions related to the Political Reform. For a moment, something changed. On Monday, at a Cabinet meeting, the President broke with that internal debate of the Political Table. According to two of the participants who spoke to Infobae, halfway through the meeting, he looked at Diego Santilli and instructed him to accelerate the negotiations so it could be passed as soon as possible. He also asked him to hurry up with the approval of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) accession and the National Sovereignty Defense project. Chief of Staff Diego SantilliPerhaps for that reason, some members of the Political Table saw greater speed from the karinismo operatives throughout this week. "We are going to move forward with that issue," confirmed an unimpeachable source. How will it proceed and what will be sacrificed in exchange? It is still an unknown. It was not insignificant that Karina Milei traveled this week to a Business Round for the RIGI in Rosario, attended by 12 governors. There was particular rapport with Santa Fe's Maximiliano Pullaro, who is already counted among the allies against whom they will not compete intensely next year. This Sunday she will also appear with Jorge Macri. Government operators who have not wanted to accelerate the agreements argue that the PRO and the UCR must resolve their internal fronts. At the same time, there is mutual distrust between the organizers of La Libertad Avanza and the governors who want to make deals. "Who assures me that if we don't compete in the provinces and our national image doesn't improve, they won't put up a list against us one day? There is no legal instrument to agree on the conditions of the elections. It is a verbal agreement, which is why trust is needed at the time of making the pact," says one of the libertarian parties involved in the negotiations. Santilli spoke with the governors so that there would be colectoras, which he calls "System of Adhesions." There is still no unanimous consensus on the matter, but it would serve as a guarantee so that the governors do not depend entirely on Karina's and the Menems' pen. With the presidential urgency, there is no longer talk of the political reform negotiations possibly extending until February of next year. "It will be discussed inch by inch along with the Budget, so there is a deadline until December," they validate. Milei's urgency for the passage of that reform has two central motives: delaying the start of the election season, which usually comes with greater economic volatility, and showing the market the consolidation of a bloc of allied governors willing to sustain the ruling party's project. Minister of Economy Luis CaputoIt is unlikely that this decision will eliminate investors' doubts, although they hope it will serve to mitigate part of the uncertainty. Country Risk closed near 800 basis points at the end of October, more than 30% above the level it had last month. A Government strategist confesses that the penetration of the libertarian narrative is "worn out." That impacts the provinces. A ruling-party figure who is self-nominating for governor of a northern province admits behind closed doors that the figures that reached him in recent weeks have suffered a notable deterioration. If he was thinking of forming a more purist front, now he thinks twice. Today there are five provinces where there could be some possibility of winning if the electoral offer and the economic wind favor them: Córdoba, La Pampa, Mendoza, Tierra del Fuego, and Río Negro. In the latter, libertarian senator Enzo Fullone aspires to compete, the ruling party's political strategist for the elections taking place this Sunday in Bariloche. If he achieves a good result, he will be anointed as the pre-candidate. On the economic front, the Government celebrated that household delinquency fell for the second consecutive month. The 1816 consultancy calculated that it went from 12.8% in August to 12.2% in September. Luis Caputo's collaborators affirm that this variation is explained by "the disinflation process, the growth of real wages, and Banco Nación's work to lead a refinancing policy." The dynamics of inflation could be upward in the last quarter due to the seasonality of the holidays. "It depends on meat; for now it hasn't been rising as usual," they note. The flip side of those performances was the increase in Country Risk, conditioned by both local and external factors. At the Ministry of Economy, they believe they will not have a favorable international outlook in these months because they do not foresee a relief of international conflict or a drop in the price of Brent crude. If those levels descend, they warn they will seek to "lower gasoline, electricity, and gas." The concern is greater when they look at the complex scenario with international rates. Looking at the US case, they affirm that the American economy has problems in its fiscal policy and its debt level. Even so, some try to be optimistic about the midterm elections next Tuesday: "I wouldn't venture to believe that Trump loses on Tuesday with the level of growth he has." One sector of the Government that watches that event with particular attention is Santiago Caputo's. "We don't believe it will have any effect, to be honest," they affirm, arguing that Brazil's result could have had a greater impact on local instability. On that point, at Itamaraty they affirm that Lula will not break with Argentina, but will "invisibilize" Milei. "He won't mention him, he considers him of an inferior station," they add, although they are worried about other maneuvers the libertarian might carry out: "In the short term nothing will happen. The contracts exist and will not be altered. My concern is for the long term. Relations are compromised." Santiago Caputo, Luis Caputo, and Peter LamelasReturning to the US elections, another source from the Casa Rosada opines: "Losing the Senate doesn't matter much, because due to the filibuster any law needs 60 votes instead of 51. As long as one party or the other doesn't have 60 senators, having a simple majority doesn't change much for you. Obama governed with the Senate against him during his last two years and it was the period in which he made the most changes." Several members of that wing of the Government will travel to Washington in the coming hours. So will the deputy chief of staff, Ignacio Devitt, and the undersecretary of Institutional Management and national organizer of LLA, Eduardo "Lule" Menem. For that reason, there will be no Political Table meeting this Tuesday. It will be the second consecutive week in which such meetings will not take place. Coincidence or not, this circumstance occurs at the most intense moment of the internal disputes among several of these officials. One of the novelties of recent weeks is that there is discontent in almost all sectors of that table over Patricia Bullrich's distancing moves and her flirtation with the idea of aspiring to compete in next year's presidential elections. The Milei siblings have decided not to ask her to leave the space nor to ask her to stop being the head of La Libertad Avanza's bloc in the Senate, but the relationship could become more strained in the coming weeks. Bullrich disagrees with dozens of dockets of judges and prosecutors sent from the Executive Branch to the Senate's Agreements Committee, the venue where they are approved and dispatched to the sessions. Her circle does not point so much at minister Juan Bautista Mahiques but at the names emanating from menemismo. In that same vein are some of the allied senators the ruling party needs for the political reform. Patricia Bullrich, head of the LLA bloc in the SenateCould it be true that the former Security minister is talking with several of them about matters related to the Council of the Judiciary, which must renew its representatives in the coming weeks? There are those who say that several ruling-party members "are going to be in for a surprise." In the bloc meeting prior to last Thursday's session, Bullrich had a brief argument with national senator Nadia Márquez, Karina's lieutenant in the Senate, who demanded changes in the way the bloc's dynamics are organized. The relationship between the two is broken. Bullrich was the one who first put a brake on the Casa Rosada's intentions to put the Neuquén native at the head of the Agreements Committee after the death of senator Juan Carlos Pagotto. "We cannot slight our allies by putting someone the opposition doesn't want," they justify. That dispute promises to be unblocked in the coming days. It is highly likely that the Casa Rosada will propose Enzo Fullone —trusted by the Menems— and that Márquez will go as the ruling party's representative to the Council of the Judiciary. Legislator Nadia Márquez speaks during a meeting of the General Legislation Committee in the Argentine Senate. (Charly Diaz Azcue / Senate Communication.)The Justicialist bloc added one more seat in recent days and became the first minority of the Chamber with 22 members. That was done with the aim of claiming two representatives on the Council and leaving La Libertad Avanza with only one seat from the Senate. The novelty is that, when the time comes, the ruling party will present two names and not one, relying on the precedent of Martín Doñate. "It will be judicialized," confirms an unimpeachable source. That second seat is still not defined. There are not insignificant figures of the ruling party who would like it to be Salta's Gonzalo Guzmán Coraita, but it would be quite a political statement not to choose Córdoba's Luis Juez, who is already part of that body. These are matters that will be deliberated in the coming weeks. The truth is that the bullrichismo does not validate several of the judicial names that are in that committee. Both the Mileis and the other members of the Political Table are evaluating how the timelines of the reforms develop in that Chamber, although they continue to affirm that no removal is planned. In any case, if that were to happen, those who have recently visited the libertarian leader opine that they are not worried: "No problem, they won't be able to pass a single more law until December 2027."