They had to increase by 7.2%: Javier Milei blocks the revaluation of retirement pensions in Argentina

The Argentine President, Javier Milei, opposed a law to a law aimed at increasing pensions approved by the majority in Congress in July, believing that the text contravenes its budget policy, according to a press release published in the Official Gazette, Monday, August 4.

The presidential veterinarian avoids a 7.2% increase in pensions and an increase of 40,000 pesos (about 30 dollars) of a monthly assignment.

70% of retirees under the poverty line

According to private studies, retirees are the people most affected by the austerity policy led by the Argentine government. More than 70 % of retirees receive a minimum allocation equivalent to $ 275 per month, which is below the poverty line.

Javier Milei has already opposed a revaluation of pension pensions in August 2024. The Government is a minority in the two Congress cameras, with 39 deputies of 257, and 6 senators (plus an ally) of 72. To overthrow a veto, the opposition must gather two Thirds of the votes in each room.

The Argentine president also used his veto to counteract satisfaction for two years of a moratorium expired last March, which would have allowed Argentines who cannot justify the 30 years of subscription required to access a retirement in a country where more than 40 % of the work is informal.

A veto against a measure for people with disabilities

Javier Milei also vetoed a law that declared the state of emergency for people with disabilities to regularize payments behind health benefits and guarantee them until December 2027. This text also guaranteed a quota of employment in the country for people with disabilities, eliminated by the administration of Milei.

The government has described these “irresponsible” laws because according to him, “they do not specify the origin of the funds, thus compromising the fiscal balance.” According to estimates of the Congress Budget Office, the Emergency Disability Law would have a fiscal impact between 0.22 % and 0.42 % of GDP.

The Government declared in a statement that the laws in question involved “an additional expense this year of more than 4.3 million euros and 10.3 million euros by 2026”. The austerity policy carried out in Argentina has caused mass mobilizations in the streets, suppressed by the police, causing serious and numerous arrests.