Argentina Scholz urges Milei to make reforms socially responsible

A self-proclaimed "anarcho-capitalist" in the Chancellery: During an hour-long meeting with Argentinian President Javier Milei on Sunday, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz addressed words of warning to the eccentric radical reformer, who has sometimes appeared with a howling chainsaw during the election campaign. According to government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit, Scholz emphasized that social compatibility and the protection of social cohesion should be an important yardstick for the president's tough austerity measures.

However, the ultra-liberal Milei does not believe in social security systems and redistribution. In his eyes, taxes are robbery and efforts to achieve social justice always lead to more injustice, he believes. "The state is not the solution, it's the problem," is one of his mantras.

As planned, the talk only lasted 60 minutes. An initially announced joint press conference between Scholz and Milei was canceled at short notice, as was the reception with military honors - at the request of the Argentinian president, according to the German side. The only joint public appearance thus remained a brief photo opportunity during the handshake greeting in front of the Chancellery.

"Away with Milei": protests in front of the Chancellery

In front of the government headquarters, several dozen demonstrators protested against the visit with placards such as "Away with Milei" and "Argentina is not for sale". They chanted "Milei, scum - you are the dictatorship."

Argentina is in recession and suffers from a bloated state apparatus, low industrial productivity and a large shadow economy that deprives the state of a lot of tax revenue. The ultra-liberal president wants to get the once rich country back on track with a radical austerity program. However, this has its price: the tough measures are choking off economic output. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects a decline of 2.8 percent in the current year. According to the Catholic University of Argentina, almost 56% of people in Argentina live below the poverty line and around 18% live in extreme poverty.

Swift conclusion of the EU-Mercosur agreement called for

Scholz and Milei also spoke about economic relations between the two countries. According to Hebestreit, both called for the swift conclusion of the 25-year-long talks on a free trade zone between the European Union and the South American association of states Mercosur, which includes Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay as well as Argentina. The agreement would create one of the world's largest free trade zones with more than 700 million inhabitants. However, an agreement in principle from 2019 will not be implemented due to ongoing concerns, for example regarding rainforest protection.

Scholz and Milei were also on the same page with regard to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Both agreed "that Russia has it in its hands to end the war of aggression against Ukraine", explained Hebestreit.

Eccentric appears tame

The head of state of South America's second-largest economy, which belongs to the G20 group of the most important industrialized and emerging countries, is considered an eccentric and is often compared to former US President Donald Trump. He likes to refer to parliamentarians as "rats" and sees the state as the root of all evil. During his two-day visit to Germany, however, he was rather tame.

He had already arrived in Germany on Saturday and received the medal of the liberal Friedrich August von Hayek Society in Hamburg for his radical market reforms - in the presence of AfD politician Beatrix von Storch and the chairman of the right-wing conservative Werteunion, Hans-Georg Maassen. "You are taking capitalism off the defensive," said Stefan Kooths, Chairman of the economists' association, in his laudatory speech.

Milei defended his reforms by saying. "It was always clear that this would not happen without hardship, but we always communicated this clearly to people," said Milei during his rather lengthy lecture to the Hayek Society. "We have said that there is no money, that it will be hard, that the beginning will be difficult, but that we will achieve good results in the end."

"Long live freedom, damn it"

However, anyone in Hamburg who had hoped for a blazing speech by the enfant terrible of Argentinian politics was likely to be disappointed. Milei spoke for around an hour about his enthusiasm for the Austrian School of economics, his rise from TV pundit to backbencher in parliament to head of state and his vision for the future of Argentina.

The 53-year-old always oscillates between extremes in his public appearances. Sometimes he acts the eccentric ramp sow, running across the stage, shouting and gesticulating. Then again he gives bone-dry economic lectures. At least at the end of his discourse in Hamburg, he reconciled the 200 or so invited guests with his typical farewell formula: "Long live freedom, damn it."

Milei visits the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

In Berlin, he also visited the Holocaust memorial. In a photo published by the presidential office, he can be seen gazing reverently over the gray steles next to the Brandenburg Gate. Although the Argentinian president grew up Catholic, he has been very interested in Judaism for years. During a visit to Israel, he prayed at the Wailing Wall, made a pilgrimage to the grave of the famous Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson in New York and relies on the advice of a Jewish Orthodox cleric for spiritual matters. Milei is considered a staunch ally of Israel and unreservedly supports the policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in the Gaza war.

Prior to Scholz, only four heads of state and government have received Milei since he took office six months ago: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Italy's Head of Government Giorgia Meloni, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele and Pope Francis as Head of State of the Vatican. Due to ideological differences, Milei skipped the usual trips for Argentine presidents to important neighboring countries such as Brazil and Chile. He has already been to the USA several times - but without an appointment at the White House. Instead, he met with Tesla boss Elon Musk and former President Trump.