Nicolas Posse: After less than six months in government, Miley has expressed anger against his key ministers for “differences in standards”

With one foot boarding the plane that will take him to the United States for the fourth time in just five and a half months as president, Javier Mailey dismissed this Monday his Chief of Staff of Ministers, Nicolás Posse. The measure was officially confirmed by the Argentine government late in the night, after several days of speculation about the official’s departure, distanced from the far-right leader and his sister, Karina Mailey, known as “the boss”.

The position of Minister of Coordination will remain in the hands of Guillermo Francos, until now the head of the Ministry of the Interior, the political portfolio par excellence, who will be demoted to the Secretariat. In a government that lacks its own legislators in Congress and amid a dire economic situation, the Department of the Interior plays a key role as the pivot of dialogue and negotiation between the national executive and the provincial governments.

“President Javier Maielli accepted the resignation presented by Nicolás Posse to the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers. The decision was motivated by differences in norms and expectations during government and the tasks entrusted to it,” Casa Rosada said in a statement. He added that the Chief of Staff will take over the position held by Francois Posse in order to grant him more political powers. In this framework, the Chief of Staff will absorb the powers of the Interior Ministry in an Interior Secretariat headed by Dr. Lisandro Catalán.

Surprisingly, the executive’s statement did not include the usual gratitude to the outgoing official, as is customary. On the other hand, they did not praise his replacement Francos, whom they characterized for “professionalism, experience and political capacity” and for “having successfully assumed the position of Minister of the Interior, being one of the architects” of the achievement that elevated Javier Mieli to the presidency. He is recognised by all political forces for his management capabilities and consensus building.”

Posse’s departure joins a long list of officials who have been fired or resigned in a government that will complete only six months in office on June 10. In this group of colleagues, Posse is the second minister to leave the cabinet, after the departure of Guillermo Ferraro in January, who was then in charge of the Ministry of Infrastructure. But he ranks first in importance, given his proximity to Miley, who initially defined him as a friend. They met while working together in the private sector, in Corporacion America, the group of businessman Eduardo Eurnekian. Extremely low-profile, the engineer Posse only made his voice heard in public two weeks ago, when he had to deliver his management report before the Senate.

The first manifestation of unrest between the President and his Coordinating Minister came two months earlier, when Miley signed a resolution that increased the salaries of senior government officials, including his own, despite his preaching that public spending should be cut and that “there is no money.” As it turned out, the responsibility lay with the Chief of Staff and, given the social unrest generated by the sudden drop in salaries and pensions, Miley was forced to admit that he had signed something he was unaware of and reversed the increase.

In recent weeks, those around the president and his sister, who is the secretary general of the presidency, have questioned Posey for his delay in decision-making and his lack of commitment to Miley’s initiative. In addition, they have targeted him for management at the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI), which will also be beheaded.

last Wednesday, when the president established a show At Luna Park and sang to present his latest book, Posse’s absence was noticeable. Yet his luck ran out. The next day, when reports of the chief of staff’s removal were growing, Milley acknowledged that changes in officials were coming. “When you manage you have milestones, the first milestone of this government is the result of the Aadhaar law, marking that milestone, we have to evaluate the results. Not only Posse, but all the ministers, ”he said in an interview with the channel Nation+after having consulted on the future of the posse. One sign of the tension within the cabinet was that the decision could not wait for the “outcome of the Base Law”, Miles’ proposal to abolish the state and regulate the economy, still being debated in the Senate.

The official communication of the dismissal, made by the Chief of Staff, tried to hide internal differences: “The Posse will continue to support the ideas of freedom, the defense of life and property and an independent project since the first day.” Argentinos was promoted by President Miley to “a new role”, which will be announced in the coming days.

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