The end of bureaucracy according to the Argentine recipe attracts global attention. They also started to take notice in the Czech Republic.
The victory of libertarian economist Javier Milei in the presidential elections of 2023 was a big surprise. He is trying to apply his radical views from the most important position in the country, which led to an unusually large debureaucratization in the country and a series of reforms. After his experiment, foreign politicians are starting to take notice, which also applies to Europe, where the level of bureaucratization and regulations is increasingly criticized. Inspiration in the unusual politics in the South American country is also found by Czech politicians.
Javier Milei himself describes his ideology as anarcho-capitalism. Besides his popularity in frequent television appearances, the worsening economic situation in Argentina helped him to electoral success. The biggest problem here is inflation, significantly different from what has occurred in the Czech Republic in recent years.
At the end of last year, the annual inflation rate in Argentina was 166 %. The hard-to-believe figure marks the country's price inflation is attributed to Milei's politics for good. This is a decrease from 211 % at the time the new president took office.
Half of the ministries removed from operation
Milei is trying to improve the economic situation in the country by intensive deregulation, the most typical manifestation of which is the abolition of existing laws. Several hundred of them have been eliminated from the code. The symbol of simplification of legislation has become the abolition of the law, which allowed elected state officials to inherit their place after their death, or special subsidies for so-called "normal" potatoes sold at street stands.
At the same time, tax holidays were announced for foreign investments. They began to flood into the country to the tune of 20 billion dollars. However, the economy reacted to the low-fat diet with logical weight loss. According to the Moody agency, Argentina's GDP fell by 3.5% in 2024. The same agency, however, is upgrading the country's rating, although the country is still among the "worse" states according to this economic assessment.
"There is a lot of talk about Javier Milei reducing the number of ministries from 18 to 9. This is true, but it needs to be put a little into context. Before this change, Argentina had a ministry of tourism and sports or a ministry of women, gender, and diversity... Javier Milei issued a decree, according to which for every new public employee three have to be fired. However, it's a bit different. This regulation does not apply to sectors that Argentina considers strategic: science and technology, health care or foreign affairs. At the same time, it should be added that last year only about 50,000 employees were dismissed from public service in Argentina, which is an absolutely negligible number. In 2020, 3.2 million people worked for the state,"
commented on other notable changes in Argentina on X the political scientist Jaroslav Bílek.
Chainsaw around the Czech Republic, it probably wouldn't cut through public health care
Thus, he points out that many things in Argentina look different than what we are used to in Europe and their application is therefore very limited. The problems of the European Union with excessive regulation were discussed extensively in the much-quoted Draghi's report. Yet European politicians in Argentina are looking for inspiration and the Czech Republic is no exception.
"We have the courage to cut into it! Enough of bullying, nonsensical bureaucracy and lagging behind the world! The state is not to serve bureaucrats and corporations, but people!"
wrote to the video, where he cuts the boards with a chainsaw, the chairman of the Pirates Zdeněk Hřib. The chainsaw has thus become a symbol of Miei's deregulatory policy.
However, the abolition of ministries and partial layoffs of state employees are not among the most prominent economic ideas of Javier Mileie from his presidential campaign.
He would like to introduce the American dollar as a currency in the country similar to the desire to adopt the Euro in Czech Republic, but his idea of abolishing public health care and completely transferring it into private business hands is unimaginable in the Czech Republic. However, his methods may provide a guide as to what a tax-free state would look like, a state Milei fights for.
Sources: authorial article, x.com, fortune.com, britannica.com, e15.cz
