Cambiemos is a
big tent coalition, variously described as
centrist, to
centre-right. The coalition describes itself as anti-
populist and
liberal. Former
President and coalition leader
Mauricio Macri has been described as a conservative. Macri said he would tear up Argentina's memorandum of understanding with
Iran, seek
Venezuela’s exclusion from the regional free trade association
Mercosur and ease away from a
fixed exchange rate with the dollar. This is the "change of an era we need to be in the world", he declared at a press conference. He aligned the country with
gradualist neoliberalism and re-opened Argentina to international markets by lifting
currency controls,
restructuring sovereign debt, and pressing
free-market solutions. Macri said he would seek more sweeping reforms for Argentina after his governing coalition scored a resounding victory in 2017 congressional elections. Macri told reporters Argentinians should expect reforms in tax, education and labor, without providing details. The
conservative leader had been pushing a
free-market reform agenda to try to overhaul Argentina's economy. while receiving praise for leaving a
legacy of anti-corruption, and increasing Argentina's
sovereign marketability.
Economic policies Managing Director,
Christine Lagarde. Mauricio Macri received a country with huge economic problems, and sought to reverse things. Quickly, moved from a
fixed exchange-rate system to a
floating one, removed
taxes on exports and reduced
subsidies on energy, to reduce the
fiscal deficit. Macri avoided the use of
shock therapy and introduced the changes in a
gradual way. In April 2016, he negotiated with the
vulture fund and ended the
default to return to the
international capital markets. Until January 2018, the gradualist system was working well, although at a slower pace than needed. Since May 2018, as part of an agreement with the
International Monetary Fund, the government accelerated the
austerity plans, aiming to completely remove the
fiscal deficit.
Social policies ,
Federico Pinedo and
Emilio Monzó at the
Argentine Congress. Domestically, he pursued moderate
socially liberal policies, liberalized the
energy sector, and combatted
public corruption. Macri named two
Supreme Court justices. President Mauricio Macri encouraged the discussion of an
abortion law during the
2018 opening of regular sessions of the National Congress of Argentina. The bill, called "
Voluntary termination of pregnancy", divided the coalition, that had no official position and the legislators voted according their beliefs.
Mauricio Macri,
Maria Eugenia Vidal,
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta,
Elisa Carrió, and ministers
Marcos Peña,
Rogelio Frigerio,
Esteban Bullrich, etc., are
anti-abortion;
Martin Lousteau,
Mario Negri,
Luis Petcoff Naidenoff and ministers Sergio Rubinstein,
Patricia Bullrich,
Sergio Bergman,
Juan José Aranguren, etc.; are
pro-abortion. In this coalition of 108 members, the rejection of the project was imposed, with 65 negative votes compared to 42 positive. Within the ruling alliance, the
PRO prevailed with the negative vote (37) - it should be remembered that President
Mauricio Macri had expressed himself "in favor of life" - while 17 voted for the positive. In
radicalism, 24 supported the initiative, 16 rejected it. In the
Civic Coalition, of its 10 members, only
Juan Manuel López voted in favor. It recognized
Juan Guaidó, who was elected
President of Venezuela by the
National Assembly during the
Venezuelan presidential crisis of 2019. Macri improved
the relations with the United States and from
Mercosur achieved a
free trade agreement with the
European Union and closer ties with the
Pacific Alliance. Macri and his
Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra endorsed
Democrat Hillary Clinton in the
2016 US presidential election, which was won by
Republican Donald Trump. Mauricio Macri said he wanted to start a "new kind of relationship" with the
United Kingdom over the
Falkland Islands as he tried to move his country towards a centrist position in world affairs. During the first week in office, Macri annulled the
Memorandum of understanding between Argentina and Iran, which would have established a joint investigation into the
1994 bombing with AMIA, a terrorist attack on a Jewish organization for which Argentina blamed
Hezbollah and
Iran. ==Presidents==