The day after being elected, Javier Milei, in an interview with Eduardo Feinmann, stated that Miguel Ángel Pichetto (73) would have a key role in parliamentary work. Today, two months after that phrase, the president seems to have found in Pichetto an ally who was not always on his side of the world. Pichetto was a candidate for deputy on the list of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, who fell by the wayside in the first electoral round, meaning that he was in the political space that he confronted with Milei. Later in the runoff he handled himself with caution, but closer to Sergio Massa than to the libertarian leader. But once the new Government got underway, Pichetto decided to start working to collaborate with Milei’s Government. He formed a parliamentary bloc called “We Make a Federal Coalition” of 23 deputies, which became key for the Government because if the 39 deputies of the Libertad Avanza bloc are added, plus the 37 of the PRO, plus the 34 of the radicalism, the sum gives 110 deputies. In other words, it would not be enough to gather the 129 seats necessary for a quorum. With the 23 deputies of the bloc chaired by Pichetto, we reach 133.
Pichetto is a skillful politician who continues to use classic tricks when it comes to installing issues in public opinion. He sometimes gives interviews in which he presents his positions, but he also has off-the-record conversations with journalists or opinion leaders with whom he lets his ideas transcend. In the different interviews he gave in recent weeks, he referred to his positions regarding the original project that the Government sent and showed his intentions to “help” or “collaborate” and referred to three fundamental issues that the Government should put into action. : strengthen dialogue with governors, build a parliamentary majority and move towards a government coalition. Like any old wolf, when Pichetto offers this advice, he also already has a plan in his head to execute it, because he is the deputy who has the best dialogue with the majority of the provinces. In the past he was dubbed the CEO of the Governors and he also sees himself as someone who can lead the parliamentary discussion. An example is when they ask him about the chapter on privatizations. Pichetto has already raised his position that not all state companies can be privatized, because some are strategic, such as Banco Nación or companies that have been developing nuclear technology for more than 70 years, an investment in knowledge that is at the forefront of the world. He also said that there is no need to go to a total privatization scheme as was the case in the 1990s, but rather that we could work on a mixed scheme that includes investors, the State and workers. This idea is not new, he had already expressed it in a book that he wrote together with former Menemist minister Roberto Dromi called “How to recover Argentine Development.” Dromi is a permanent consultation man for Pichetto.
Not everything is rosy between Pichetto and the Government. Regarding the advisor Frederico Sturzenegger he said that he does not understand the world of politics and that he has always failed. He criticized the Minister of Economy Luis “Toto” Caputo for not having gone to Congress and he already had it between his eyebrows during the Macri Government, whom he said had left due to panic attacks. Nicolás Posse is not among his favorites in the Government either. The only ones he has expressed any praise about were presidential advisor Santiago Caputo and the president himself. The deputy does not usually blow up all the bridges.
