Politics "Anarcho-capitalist" very tame: Argentina's President Milei honored

The eccentric is keeping a low profile: at the start of his visit to Germany, Argentina's ultra-liberal President Javier Milei was honored in Hamburg with a medal from the Friedrich August v. Hayek Society. Milei, who is known for his spontaneous and polemical statements, avoided any reference to Germany in his speech on Saturday and primarily described his understanding of politics.

His audience of around 200 in Hamburg - including AfD member of parliament Beatrix von Storch and the chairman of the right-wing conservative Werteunion, Hans-Georg Maassen - cheered Milei on. They repeatedly shouted "Libertad" (freedom) in chants. On Sunday, the Argentinian president, who describes himself as an "anarcho-capitalist", will be received by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the Berlin Chancellery.

With the award, the Hayek Society honored Milei's program, which aims to reform Argentina in the spirit of Hayek, the Austrian pioneer of neoliberalism. "You are taking capitalism off the defensive," said the Society's Chairman, Stefan Kooths, in his laudatory speech. He compared Milei's policies to chemotherapy. "The side effects are severe," said the economist from Kiel. But without such therapy, Argentina would be finished.

Critics accuse the Hayek Society of not clearly distinguishing itself from right-wing populist movements. For example, the society awarded its network prize to the Swiss web radio station Kontrafunk in 2023 and to the blog "Achse des Guten" in 2022 - both media are considered to be part of the political right-wing spectrum. The Friedrich August von Hayek Foundation, which was founded in 1999 on the initiative of the then Federal President Roman Herzog, operates independently of the Hayek Society and explicitly distanced itself from the Hayek Society on Friday.

Several hundred people demonstrated outside the venue under the slogan "No to Milei in Hamburg". The demonstration call stated that Milei's government was privatizing public companies such as the oil company YPF or the airline Aerolíneas Argentinas. He is cutting spending in the education sector, facilitating the dismissal of workers and restricting the freedom to demonstrate. Many Latin Americans were among the demonstrators.

South America's second-largest economy is in recession and suffers from a bloated state apparatus, low industrial productivity and a large shadow economy that deprives the state of many tax revenues. The ultra-liberal president wants to get the country back on track with a radical austerity program.

In his speech, Milei referred to initial successes. For the first time in a long time, the Argentinian state budget is balanced and inflation is falling significantly. The figures are impressive, but the development has come at a price for the people in his country, said the President. "But we have always told people that if we do it (the reform), there will be good results."

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects economic output to fall by 2.8 percent in the current year. According to the Catholic University of Argentina, almost 56 percent of people in Argentina live below the poverty line and around 18 percent live in extreme poverty.

In his speech, the President described his intellectual career as a follower of the so-called Austrian School, which includes Hayek (1899-1992) and Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973). The teachings of US economist Murray Rothbard (1926-1995) had turned him into an "anarcho-capitalist". He explained his rise to become a successful politician with his courage in being the only one to have represented liberal economic ideas in the media and on television talk shows. "I was the only gladiator." Milei was elected in the second round of voting last November with more than 55% of the vote.

During the coronavirus pandemic, when the measures hit the population of his country particularly hard, young people in particular began to engage with his ideas, said Milei. He presented books in videos and tried to make the contributions as attractive as a Rolling Stones concert. He twice praised his younger sister Karina Milei, who is his Secretary General and accompanied him. She is regarded as the real puppet master of the government in Buenos Aires - Milei calls her "El Jefe" (boss).