Argentina formally rejects BRICS membership
BUENOS AIRES: Argentine President Javier Milei has sent letters to BRICS leaders to formalize his decision to reject an invitation to join the grouping of major emerging economies, the presidency said.
The bloc -- made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- in August announced it was admitting six new members in a bid to counter the Western-led global order. The membership of Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates was due to take effect from January 1, 2024.
The letters signed by Milei and published by several media houses said Argentina’s membership was “not considered appropriate at this time.” The libertarian outsider Milei took office this month after his resounding defeat of Argentina’s traditional political parties, and he had vowed on the campaign trail not to join BRICS.
In his letters he said his foreign policy “differs in many aspects from that of the previous government. In this sense, some decisions made by the previous administration will be reviewed.” During his election campaign, Milei said “our geopolitical alignment is with the United States and the Zionist entity. We are not going to ally with communists.” Despite vowing to cut ties with major trading partners China and Brazil, he has taken a more conciliatory tone since coming to office.
Meanwhile, Argentina’s main labor union on Thursday called for a general strike over President Javier Milei’s reforms aimed at liberalizing the country’s economy. Hector Daer, the general secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), said the strike on January 24 was in protest against a decree and package of bills announced by Milei, which “go against all of society” and give the president “all public power.” The libertarian Milei took office on December 10 and has taken steps to fulfill his campaign promise to slash public spending and shake up an economy crumbling under annual inflation of 160 percent.
Congress is sitting in extraordinary session this week to consider a package of bills issued to give effect to a mega-decree he unveiled last week. The decree can be overturned if it is rejected by both houses of Congress. Otherwise it comes into force on Friday. The decree would change or scrap more than 350 economic regulations in a country accustomed to heavy government intervention in the market.
“This decree attacks the individual rights of workers, collective rights, a universal and united health system, and an incalculable number of subjects that constitute our country,” said Daer. Milei also presented to Congress this week a package of modifications to laws that will allow the privatization of more than 40 public companies and will limit the right to assembly and demonstration. This “omnibus bill” containing about 600 items affects a number of areas of public and private life, from fiscal and electoral issues, to the calculation of pensions or the introduction of an “express divorce.”
Facing rising protests, Milei’s government has warned demonstrators they will lose their right to social assistance and will be billed for the cost of security. Thousands of protesters on Wednesday demanded the courts intervene to invalidate the mega-decree they say would carve away at worker and consumer protections. — AFP.
