The government will get some good news in Congress this week as five senators are set to form a new legislative group in the Upper House that will function as a Milei-administration ally. The lawmakers hope is to get more benefits for their provinces by negotiating with the government, although they said they won’t be “obedient” to Javier Milei’s demands.

“We are aiming for coordination and coherence, without partisan obedience,” a parliamentary source close to the matter told the Herald.

The confirmed members so far are Carlos Espínola (Corrientes), Edgardo Kueider (Entre Ríos), Juan Carlos Romero (Salta), Edith Terenzi (Chubut), and Lucila Crexell (Neuquén), although more could join its ranks. The five of them have already shown support for Milei’s proposals, but will now move together and cement their positions as allies.

The new group is expected to be presented at the Senate this week. The senators will still be part of their original blocs, but together they will form what in Argentina is known as an interbloc in order to make decisions together. There are still some details yet to be fully confirmed, like its name — likely something including the word “Provinces” — and its final members.

The formation of the new bloc is being coordinated by Chubut Governor Ignacio Torres. Although his relationship with Milei had a rough start, he is now willing to negotiate. “Their relationship is good, but Torres is always very stern regarding the issues that involve his province,” the aforementioned source explained.

In February, Torres had a harsh public spat with Milei when the governor threatened to stop sending oil and gas to the rest of the country until his province received its share of federal taxes. Tension sky-rocketed as Milei went as far to like an X post with Torres’ face edited into a porn meme with pedophilic connotations and another that displayed the governor’s face with features resembling those of a person with Down syndrome. Torres ultimately did not follow through with his threat.

The new interbloc

The goal of the new interbloc is for its members to coordinate a common position regarding  government bills and proposals in order to “have more weight in the negotiations,” said the source.

They added that the objective is to benefit their respective provinces, although that will depend on the upcoming parliamentary agenda. “So far, only the budget bill will affect the provinces, and that is traditionally addressed in the Lower House, although the Senate could potentially introduce some changes.”

The Senate could still debate a bill that aims to ban people with corruption convictions to run for office, as well as the government’s proposal to appoint federal Judges Ariel Lijo and Manuel García-Mansilla as part of the Supreme Court.

“That could be important for the governors,” the source mentioned.

Who are the ally senators 

Espínola and Kueider are both Peronists. They both became senators as part of the Frente de Todos coalition under former President Alberto Fernández’s administration. However, they decided to leave that bloc and form a new one called Unidad Federal at the start of 2023, to distance themselves from the former administration. The third member of Unidad Federal, María Alejandra Vigo, is also rumored to be part of the new ally interbloc.

Despite being Peronists, Espínola, Kueider and Vigo have backed Milei’s proposals since he took office, particularly his flagship state and economic reform bill known as Ley Bases.

Romero — three times governor of Salta, historically a Peronist who in recent years allied with more right-wing blocs — and Terenzi are part of a small bloc called Cambio Federal, and Crexell is the sole member of the Movimiento Popular Neuquino bloc. All three have backed Milei’s proposals so far, with Crexell having been at the center of a scandal when the Ley Bases was being debated.

The day before the Ley Bases was debated in the Senate in June, Argentine media published a draft of the appointment of Crexell as an ambassador before UNESCO in Paris. At the time, she confirmed that she was offered the position at UNESCO, but claimed that the two things were unrelated and that the whole thing was “a set-up.” Crexell backed the Ley Bases bill in full and remains in her position as senator.