Argentina's Minister of the Interior, Diego Santilli, publicly defended the appointments made to the Audit General's Office (AGN) by the Chamber of Deputies and distanced himself from the judicial strategy promoted by his own political party, PRO.
In this context, he sought to de-escalate the dispute and stated that differences must be channeled through institutional mechanisms, without transferring internal political conflicts to the functioning of the state.
In parallel, the minister expressed confidence regarding the treatment of the 2026 Budget in the Senate.
The controversy originated after the appointment of three new auditors to the Audit General's Office: Rita Mónica Almada, Juan Ignacio Forlón, and Cinthia Pamela Calletti.
According to the legal action promoted by Ritondo, the contested resolution violates the institutional balance and must be urgently suspended.
While the Judiciary must rule on the validity of the appointments in the AGN, the political debate anticipates a scenario of cross-tensions between former allies, in a Congress traversed by cross-party agreements and unresolved internal disputes.
In this sense, he avoided escalating the political tension and denied a rupture with PRO: “We have to keep working together; that’s what society asked of us,” he stated.
The political background of the conflict lies in the agreement sealed between La Libertad Avanza and Unión por la Patria, a political space with strong influence from former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
The official stated that the decision corresponds exclusively to the Congress and downplayed the internal conflict unleashed after the parliamentary agreement between the libertarian ruling party and Unión por la Patria.
Santilli's statements came after PRO, through its bloc leader in the Chamber of Deputies, Cristian Ritondo, promoted an injunction to challenge the appointments of new auditors-general.
“We took a huge step, and that is reflected by the media and the markets,” he stated.
Santilli's statements exposed a new rift within PRO and, at the same time, evidenced the complex architecture of parliamentary alliances that supports the ruling coalition.
The minister emphasized that the Government maintains fiscal balance as its central axis and recalled that Argentina has gone three years without a Budget law approved by the Congress.
“The objective is to have all the package of measures that the President sent,” he said.
The legal action aims to declare the unconstitutionality and nullity of resolution 7018-D-2025, approved in the early hours of December 18, in a session marked by last-minute negotiations.
“It is clear that it is the prerogative of the Congress. It is not something that the Executive Branch should send,” affirmed Santilli, by emphasizing that the process can be settled in the Judiciary, but it does not correspond to disregard the constitutional power of Parliament.
For this reason, the injunction includes a precautionary measure to prevent the AGN from swearing in or formally accepting the appointments.
This understanding allowed the appointments to be unblocked, but it generated strong rejection in sectors of PRO, which interpreted the move as an inadmissible concession to Kirchnerism.
Santilli, however, opted for a different discursive line, aligned with the idea of governability and legislative agreements.
