«I Don’t Want to Save the World – I Want to Save My Family»

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Lea aquí la versión en Español.

Ministerial airs are foreign to Federico Sturzenegger. After the conversation, a hotel employee asks whether he would like the police to escort him past airport security the next morning. Sturzenegger politely but firmly declines: “I prefer to travel like an ordinary citizen.” Invited by the Institut für Schweizer Wirtschaftspolitik (IWP), he is staying at Zurich’s Baur au Lac, where the interview takes place. In passing, he mentions he has about 300 projects in the pipeline and describes himself as a “catalyst”: “Ministers are often so absorbed by day-to-day management that they never find time to tackle the necessary reforms. That’s where I come in.”

Mr. Sturzenegger, Argentina heads to the legislative midterm elections on October 26. President Javier Milei and his party La Libertad Avanza lost September’s local elections in Buenos Aires. Are you nervous?
Federico Sturzenegger: Look, there were several district elections recently and we lost one, the one in Buenos Aires. It was a wake-up call, we didn’t expect that defeat.

Did you do something wrong?
In record time we moved 12 million people above the poverty line. That has silenced many critics, but people are still poor, even if they are now above a line that is calculated theoretically. We may also have grown somewhat complacent. It’s worth noting that the opposition obtained fewer votes than two years ago, turnout was low. That is unlikely at the end of October.

These elections are pivotal for your government.
Half the Chamber of Deputies will be renewed, the seats elected four years ago. Do you know how many we won back then? Two out of 257. So we have almost nothing to lose. On the contrary, we expect a strong increase to around one third of the seats, which would allow us to maintain presidential veto power. If the opposition wants to block our programs, it needs a two-thirds majority in both chambers. If it doesn’t get it, Javier can move forward with greater confidence.

What’s at stake for you as Minister of Deregulation and State Reform?
My deregulation initiatives don’t depend on Congress; they are implemented through decrees and regulations. The closer we get to a legislative majority, the easier it will be to pursue structural reforms as well, such as the much-needed labor reform.

But the elections also carry symbolic weight.
I think we’ll do well, our results speak for themselves. The defeat in Buenos Aires triggered sharp market turbulence and showed what the alternative to our program looks like, a country without growth, investment, or confidence. Argentines know that scenario all too well.

At the IMF Spring Meetings, you gave Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva a chainsaw lapel pin. Does she wear it?
What I do know is that she’s very pleased with the fiscal consolidation and the resulting surplus. She also believes deregulation should be central to future IMF programs. She set up a commission on the subject, which I’m part of. And by the way, at our last meeting Swiss Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin greeted me wearing the chainsaw pin I had given him earlier. I took it as a sign of respect and a genuine interest in the details.

What concrete achievements can you point to?
Eliminating the fiscal deficit in record time. That was Argentina’s core structural problem. We inherited a deficit of 5 percent of GDP. The IMF program called for reducing it by one point per year. Javier said he didn’t want to go from deficit to surplus in five years, he wanted to do it in a month. We achieved the first balanced budget in 123 years. That strengthened our credibility with the Fund. When we eased the exchange-rate regime, gradually moving toward a floating exchange-rate system, the IMF offered additional support.

What else have you achieved?
Thanks to fiscal stability we stopped printing money. That brought inflation down. We inherited 25 percent monthly inflation from the previous government, at the peak it reached 1.5 percent per day. Today it is around 1,5 percent to 2 percent per month.

How much international support does Milei’s agenda have?
A great deal. Javier is a passionate defender of freedom with firm convictions. His clarity commands respect, even in critical, statist, or interventionist circles.

This autumn the Mercosur countries, including Argentina, signed a free-trade agreement with EFTA.
That’s right. And Mercosur is very close to an agreement with the European Union, which has been under discussion for 25 years. It would be an important step.

Donald Trump has promised 20 billion dollars in support for Argentina. As a free-market advocate, how do you view that intervention?
Our current situation is stable, but we carry a long history of financial crises. Together with Greece, we are the country with the highest number of sovereign defaults in recent history. We are in the middle of a campaign. The Peronists sow doubts and fear. Congress just approved unfunded spending. In that context Donald Trump steps in. He backs our reform agenda and guarantees that the United States would support us if we were to lose market access. It is a kind of insurance.

What is Argentina’s debt level?
Total debt is around 45 percent of GDP. It is low because no one wants to lend to us. We are historically bad debtors (laughs).

In the United States, Elon Musk pushed reforms inspired by you and Milei, but he wasn’t successful. Why?
Musk understood the need for deregulation, but he never saw the state as the vehicle to carry it out. Javier pursued both, deregulating and reforming the state. Musk focused only on the latter. And there is another difference.

Which one?
I designed my deregulation program two years before Javier took office. With a team of about 100 people we reviewed 4200 laws and 2000 international treaties. After a year we had two piles of papers, one with the laws to repeal and another with those we could improve. Unlike Musk, we did the work before coming to power.

How many of those laws have you actually repealed?
A quarter. For a government without a parliamentary majority, that is simply remarkable.

Milei has cut public spending by 30 percent. The Swiss government struggles even to slow spending growth. What could Switzerland learn from Argentina?
Absolutely nothing. Argentina is the worst student in the class, we have gone twenty years without doing our homework. We are in no position to give advice.

Then the other way around, what can Argentina learn from Switzerland?
Everything. (Sighs) In Argentina it is traditional to use the state to finance political cronies or even fake ministries. People were hired who collected salaries without working. The state’s inefficiency is incomparable to Switzerland. The Peronists turned the state into a corruption machine. Javier wants to blow it up.

What is the biggest misconception about Argentina?
It is taken for granted that austerity programs harm the economy. False. When we cut public spending by 30 percent, people said we would cause a recession. The opposite happened. A state that spends a lot needs to tax a lot. If it spends less, people pay less tax and free up resources. For those who believe in freedom, this is nothing new. Perhaps the Swiss, with their fiscal discipline, understand it better than anyone. Politically, people said Javier would not survive such sweeping cuts. But people are happy not to pay for so much nonsense. Sometimes Javier tells me he would like to name me “Minister of Happiness,” were that title not already tainted by Nicolás Maduro’s ministry of the same name. The truth is people feel joy when freed from regulations, obligations, and bureaucracy.

Which measures are you most proud of?
We removed all restrictions on the rental market, such as price controls. We opted for full freedom, and the effect was striking, the housing supply shot up by 300 percent and prices collapsed. A resounding success.

«The Peronists turned the state into a corruption machine. Javier wants to blow it up.»

Any other examples?
When Javier took office, satellite internet was banned. Why should it be, especially in a country as vast as Argentina? Because one of the largest media conglomerates was also the main internet provider and convinced the government to ban it to avoid competition. At the same time, the previous administration had created a state-owned company to roll out fiber optics nationwide. Javier repealed that rule and, the next day, Starlink submitted its offer. Since then, hundreds of thousands of families, even in remote areas, have had internet access. And how much did it cost the state? Nothing. Let the market do its job. I could list hundreds of similar absurdities. Deregulation is like peeling an onion: you remove layer after layer, and in the end you can’t help but cry. The greatest risk for competition is when government becomes the spoils of special interests.

What reforms will you tackle next?
Labor reform. At its core, it gives priority to company-level agreements over national collective agreements, so firms can act with greater flexibility. That will boost employment.

Many measures were implemented by decrees or emergency orders. Why not go through Congress?
Everything we do fits within the constitutional framework. Javier inherited a terribly unstable situation. We needed a strong signal that change was coming. When you take on cronyism and the status quo, you also need a surprise factor. Decrees allowed us to deregulate quickly across large swaths of the economy. Later we presented a broad legislative package, debated for seven months. We have used different instruments.

«The truth is people feel joy when freed from regulations, obligations, and bureaucracy.»

Why put yourself through all this?
Javier is a fighter for freedom. He wants to show that ideas of freedom can prevail. I wholeheartedly agree. But I have an even deeper motivation. In the ten years before Milei, two million of Argentina’s 47 million people emigrated because they saw no future. Children of the poor, the middle class, and the rich, they all left.

In your own family as well?
Yes. We all have relatives and friends abroad. My children are 15, 19, and 20. Do you know why I do all this? Not because I want to save the world or liberal ideas. I want to save my family. If the country doesn’t change radically, we will see our children and grandchildren only by video call.