Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, has vetoed three bills that would have increased pensions and disability benefits, prompting outrage from both groups and the lawmakers who had approved the measures.
The self-styled anarcho-capitalist claimed the bills would “break the government’s fiscal balance” and insisted there was “no money” to fund the measures, which Congress had approved in early July.
Pensioners have been among the hardest hit by Milei’s so-called “chainsaw” austerity drive and have been holding weekly demonstrations outside Congress every Wednesday, come rain or shine.
Overriding the presidential veto would require a two-thirds majority in parliament. Should that happen, Milei has already announced he intends to challenge the bills in court.
“It’s impossible to survive on a minimum pension,” said Eduardo Barnei, 79, from Berazategui on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, who said he received 370,000 pesos last month (about £205), including a 70,000-peso bonus.
One of the bills vetoed by Milei proposed a 7.2% increase for all pensions and would have raised the monthly bonus to 110,000 pesos.
Even with the adjustment, the total would still fall well short of the 1,200,523 pesos (£662) that the Defensoría de la Tercera Edad – an ombudsman for older people – estimates as the minimum monthly cost of living for a pensioner.
“[Last month] I had to spend more than 100,000 pesos on medicine, another 80,000 on gas and electricity, and now I have to survive on what’s left. It’s just not possible,” said Barnei, who began working at 15 and continued until his retirement at 68.
“Life is very difficult,” said Edda Beitia, 77, from the Greater Buenos Aires area, who has been attending the weekly pensioners’ protests – often outnumbered by security forces including military, federal and naval police, who try to stop them from blocking roads, frequently using force, teargas and rubber bullets.
In March, after football supporters joined pensioners in protest, 124 demonstrators were detained and 46 people were injured in clashes with security forces – among them a photographer who was seriously wounded after being struck in the head by a teargas canister.
“I keep coming to the protests every week because I think of all the pensioners who, like me, are struggling. This fight is a collective fight,” said Beitia.
Milei also vetoed a law that would have allowed women over 60 and men over 65 to retire even if they had not completed the required 30 years of pension contributions.
The third bill would have established a pension for people with disabilities and granted access to a medical care programme – but it too was entirely vetoed by the far-right president.
The government argued the new laws would result in additional spending of more than 7tn pesos (£3.8bn) in 2025 and about 17tn pesos (£9.3bn) in 2026, describing the measures as “irresponsible” for failing to specify the source of funding.
“And even if the veto were overturned, we’ll take it to court,” Milei said three weeks ago.
In a statement on Monday, the government declared: “There is no money, and the only way to make Argentina great again is through effort and honesty – not by repeating the same old recipes.”
Several lawmakers condemned the government’s decision. Senator Pablo Blanco called it “regrettable and shameful”, while Senator Oscar Parrilli described it as “a policy of cruelty towards the most vulnerable sectors of society”.
“We are barely surviving but many of us now have to help our children who have lost their jobs,” said pensionist Beitia. “I also think about all the young people who will never get to retire. The government should be ashamed of themselves for what they are doing.”
