The first privatizations of Milei will be YPF and public radio and television
Just 12 hours after his election as president of Argentina with 55.9% of the votes in the second round held last Sunday, November 19, Javier Milei has already made his first announcements about the privatization of public companies. Among the objectives of the libertarian is the oil company YPF, Public Television, National Radio and the Télam news agency.
After his victory was announced, the president-elect He will take office on December 10. Meanwhile, in the first 12 hours of his mandate, he held a round of radio interviews yesterday in which he transmitted his message of selling the public companies of the River Plate country. Specifically, he assured that “everything public that may be in the hands of the private sector, will be in the hands of the private sector.”
In the focus of the libertarian there is the oil company YPF (Fiscal Petroleum Yacimientos), a company closely linked to Spain since between 1999 and 2012 Repsol had the majority of its shareholders (97.81%). Subsequently, the Argentine Government, under the command of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, expropriated that package of shares, specifically in May 2012.
But before YPF returns to the private market, “they have to rebuild it first,” said the libertarian from Libertad Avanza. Milei assured that the head of the Economy portfolio when the oil company was nationalized, Axel Kicillof, of having “deteriorated” the company in terms of results “so that it is worth less than when it was expropriated.” Therefore, Milei’s plan is to “put it back together” and then hang the “for sale” sign on it.
The now president assured that he has a plan so that both YPF and the public company EnergÃa Argentina acquire a value in the market: “they have a role in the energy transition of the country,” he said. Therefore, the plan that the libertarian wants to carry out is that while they remain under the control of the Government “they will be put to create value so that they can be sold in a very beneficial way for Argentines.”
The other issue to take into account is the regulation of energy rates. In the first nine months of the year, energy subsidies reached 8,282 million dollars, almost 1.8 billion less than the same period of the previous year. Little by little they have been reduced due to the lowering of production costs.
Milei stressed that a change must be made in energy rates but that the adjustment “be paid by the State” through tax reductions or a mechanism that redesigns the taxation of energy prices with new taxes “that benefit the flow of company funds and so that the impact on the price is minimal,” explained the president-elect.
For its part, to this package of privatizations of public companies he added, in another radio interview, the Argentine Public Television and National Radio. He defined public media as “a propaganda mechanism.” Specifically, he estimated that 75% of what was talked about during the electoral campaign regarding his figure and his political space Libertad Avanza “was done in a negative way, with lies and fertilizing the campaign with fear.” The president assured that he does not agree with the idea of ​​having “a propaganda ministry.”
But the unknowns are in the future cabinet that will form the Milei Government. For the moment he confirmed that it will consist of eight ministries. For the Justice portfolio, he confirmed on the radio, will test the criminal lawyer Mariano Cúneo. On the other hand, she also gave the name of Carolina PÃparo, former candidate for governor of Buenos Aires for Social Security (ANSES): “PÃparo will be the director of ANSES and she will be accompanied by a professional colleague, Juan Manuel Verón,” she confirmed .
Trip to the US and Israel
Another of the announcements that Javier Milei made in his first hours as president of Argentina were his first trips abroad.
Specifically, he announced that he will travel “in the coming days” to the United States to meet with President Joe Biden and will later travel to Israel to live what he called “a spiritual experience.” At the same time, she announced that will seek to resume diplomatic relations with Uruguay. The president of the neighboring country, Luis Lacalle Pou, called him “at four in the morning, when he was on the Chinese Wall,” he said. He reiterated that the conversation was “a truly tremendous talk.”
Milei promised that after his conversation with the Uruguayan president he promised to go to the country and “see how relations are and what problems we have to solve.” The libertarian assured that they have “a lot of affinity” and that they are going to solve it while eating a barbecue.
