Karina Milei Convenes Political Table: Strategy with Governors and the End of PASO

While social media exploded with the press conference of spokesman Adrián Ravier, in another corner of the Casa Rosada the real news of the day was brewing. Karina Milei, the president’s sister and Secretary General of the Presidency, convened the political table to define the government’s next steps. Despite the winter recess in Congress, for nearly two hours the nine members of the strategy table addressed negotiations on several projects and reforms, including the electoral one that involves the elimination of PASO.

The focus was on the immediate: negotiations with allied and dialoguing governors to secure their parliamentary support for the «political» reform and the end of the primaries. They also discussed the conference that Economy Minister Luis Caputo will hold tomorrow on the initiative they call «Fiscal Innocence II,» another attempt to attract mattress dollars. With the World Cup over, the government seeks to regain centrality, and the nine members took their second group photo together as a gesture of internal coordination. The detail to quell rumors of friction: «El Jefe» sat next to presidential advisor Santiago Caputo on this occasion.

Part of the meeting had another priority: defining how President Javier Milei will announce the reform project of the Central Bank (BCRA) Charter in the first week of August. «It could be a national broadcast,» anticipated a source who participated in the exchange. This is a debate that the Rosada wants to highlight ahead of 2027, to convey that the result of fiscal adjustment and pocketbook pain is the INDEC inflation drop.

The image taken today in the office of Chief of Staff Diego Santilli shows a relaxed but formal imprint of La Libertad Avanza’s top echelon, far from the selfies that his predecessor Manuel Adorni used to post. Santilli is in charge of dealings with the provinces, and at the political table they reviewed the meetings already being prepared to formalize key agreements, including the transfer of road works to the province of Santa Fe, led by Maximiliano Pullaro.

The afternoon conversation at Casa Rosada also focused on governors traveling to Buenos Aires next week: Raúl Jalil of Catamarca and Elías Miguel Suárez of Santiago del Estero to advance infrastructure projects: aqueducts and water treatment plants, «in addition to other initiatives under analysis,» it was communicated. With an eye on the ultimate goal of securing Milei’s reelection in 2027, the Government House seeks to gather support to leave Peronism without a national primary to define a candidate at the polls, hence closing agreements as soon as possible.

If provinces split their elections, the calendar could start in February or March next year; there is not much time. In fact, Santilli added another dialogue yesterday at Casa Rosada with Juan Pablo Valdés, governor of Corrientes. On that occasion, the coordinating minister and Valdés discussed the importance of the National Government granting approval to the province of Corrientes for works on the Alvear-Itaquí bridge and the Monte Caseros-Bella Unión bridge project.

Participating in Tuesday’s political table were Senate bloc leader Patricia Bullrich; President of the Chamber of Deputies Martín Menem; Deputy Secretary of the Presidency and organizer of the violet party Eduardo «Lule» Menem; Deputy Chief of Staff Ignacio Devitt; and Media Secretary Fabián Fernández. Spokesman Ravier does not sit in on these meetings.