Argentina Congress, Oct 3, 2024 Photo: @izquierdadiario

Buenos Aires, October 4 (RHC)-- Argentinian President Javier Milei vetoed on Thursday the law on financing public universities, which had recently been approved by Congress, hours after a massive protest by students and teachers in support of public education and in repudiation of the government’s economic cuts.

As he had announced, Javier Milei vetoed the rule on Thursday, after his office communicated through a statement that they would not give their approval to any law that violates the country's fiscal balance.

"The national executive must use the constitutional tool of a total veto on the legislative initiative that has been sent to it," states the official bulletin published on the presidential page of the South American country.

Milei described the pro-university march as "political" and the demands for higher teachers’ salaries as "unwarranted," in the context of an increasingly tense social scenario and a sharp drop in the popularity of the president, according to polls.

Hours earlier, President Javier Milei announced that he would veto the law on public university funding.  The proposal, approved on September 13th by the Argentine Parliament, provides for the updating of the funds for operating expenses of universities due to the variation in the inflation rate.

It also requires a rearrangement of university salaries, also taking into account inflation.

President Javier Milei had warned several times that he would veto the law, as he did recently with the proposal to set up increases in retirement.