President Javier Milei met with 20 governors at Casa Rosada on Thursday to discuss the 2026 Budget and labor, tax, and penal reforms. The meeting, deemed positive by the government, aims to build consensus for the new Congress. Four Peronist governors were excluded from the summit.
The meeting started at 5 p.m. in the North Hall of Casa Rosada and lasted about two hours. Governors such as Jorge Macri (CABA), Martín Llaryora (Córdoba), Maximiliano Pullaro (Santa Fe), Ignacio Torres (Chubut), and Marcelo Orrego (San Juan) attended, alongside the national Cabinet, including Guillermo Francos, Luis Caputo, and Patricia Bullrich. The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem, also joined.
The core focus was the 2026 Budget, which ensures fiscal balance, and structural reforms. President Javier Milei stated there is “absolute consensus” for the labor reform, aimed at formalizing informal workers without affecting acquired rights and ending the “litigation industry.” “Argentina has an anachronistic labor regime,” he said, and valued the September electoral defeat as “a blessing” that forced him to rethink his management.
Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni confirmed in a press conference that the government will work “with everyone, regardless of partisan differences,” prioritizing savings, investment, and private property. “Economic prosperity will come only from the private sector,” he emphasized. The tax reform will eliminate taxes and lower rates to return “millions of dollars” to the private sector.
Governors praised the dialogue. Marcelo Orrego (San Juan) valued the invitation as “a commitment to Argentines” and addressed topics like the budget and reforms. Jorge Macri (CABA) saw “wills from everyone for a Budget” and “very honest dialogue.” Martín Llaryora (Córdoba) arrived with “the hope that we establish serious dialogue.”
Excluded were Axel Kicillof (Buenos Aires), Gildo Insfrán (Formosa), Ricardo Quintela (La Rioja), and Gustavo Melella (Tierra del Fuego). Francos justified the decision: “What sense does it make to seat someone at the table who comes not with a vocation for agreements, but to confront?” Kicillof criticized the exclusion as an error and contempt for federalism.
The government seeks congressional support for these initiatives, possibly postponing the Budget's opinion until December, with the new legislative composition.