The so-called “May Pact” sets out ten commitments that include the inviolability of private property, achieving fiscal balance and reducing public spending below 25 percent of GDP.
The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, signed yesterday with 18 governors (out of a total of 24) the so-called ‘Pact of May’, a battery of ten commitments with which the current government wants to set a common roadmap, which includes especially the inviolability of private property, reaching fiscal balance and reducing public spending below 25 percent of GDP.
“Argentina is at a turning point. The break points in the history of a nation are not moments of peace and tranquility. These are moments of difficulty and conflict, where everything seems uphill. These are times when the abyss becomes so clear that change becomes an obligation and an urgency,” he said in a speech after the signing of the document.
Milei thanked the members of the government and the governors who have moved to Tucumán (province in the northwest of the country) for signing the text: “After decades of penulculate between antagonistic projects that have made us increasingly poor, today we meet to renew our patriotic vows and sign what we have called the ‘May Pact’.”
In this sense, he appreciated that the attendees of the event have responded to the call “that makes them the Argentine people, that listens from their home and that last year demanded a profound change of direction.” “That this is possible today in Argentina after so much division, it is undoubtedly the symbol of a change of time,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Argentine president has charged the political, social and trade union leaders who have not signed the pact.
“In some cases (it was) because his ideological cabinets make us unaware of the root of Argentine failure. In others, out of fear or shame of having persisted in the error for so long. And in many cases, out of stubbornness in not wanting to give up the privileges that the old order gave them,” he said.
Thus, he stressed that “it is no coincidence that among the latter are those who have tried or try daily to boycott this government and conspire to fail.” “They are addicted to the system because their personal interests are diametrically opposed to that of the common people. And he knows, even if they don’t admit it, that they are progressing at the cost of all Argentines doing worse and worse,” he said.
The event was attended by former President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), while among the great absences was the vice president, Victoria Villarruel, who is ill. Among the guests who have not been present are former presidents Cristina Kirchner (2007-2015) and Alberto Fernández (2019-2023), and the governor of Buenos Aires, opponent Axel Kicillof.
The 10 points of the May Pact:
1 The inviolability of private property
2 The non-negotiable fiscal balance
3 Reducing public spending to historical levels of around 25% of Gross Domestic Product
4 Useful and modern initial, primary and secondary education, with full literacy and without dropping out of school
5 Tax Reform that reduces tax pressure, simplifies Argentines’ lives and promotes trade
6 The rediscussion of federal tax sharing to end the current extortion model suffered by the provinces
7 Commitment of the Argentine provinces to advance the exploitation of the country’s natural resources
8 Modern labour reform that promotes formal work
9 A social security reform that gives sustainability to the system and respects those who contributed
10 Opening up to international trade, so that Argentina will again be the protagonist of the global market.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo