The ultraliberal reforms of the Argentine president, Javier Milei, They retreated this Tuesday due to lack of support from their allies in the lower house of Congress, that will deal with them again from scratch in committee.
“Our government program was voted for by 56% of Argentines and we are not willing to negotiate it with those who destroyed the country,” Milei reacted on the X network from Israel, where he is on an official visit, upon learning of the political setback of the project.
The “Omnibus Law”, which had been voted in general last Friday, was in full voting on each article when the leader of the pro-government deputies, Oscar Zago, asked to return the project to commission because, as he said, the allies in the opposition ignored the commitment to accompany chapters keys to the Milei initiative.
Some of them were the delegated powers, which allow the president to govern by decree, and the reform of the State. The vote was interrupted just before voting on a sensitive article on privatization.
Opposition lawmaker Myriam Bregman told reporters that “this means they have to start from scratch.”
“The popular rejection was felt throughout the country,” he continued, referring to the protests that gathered last week in front of Congress during the debate and that were repressed by the police.
Demonstration against the “omnibus bill” in front of Congress, in Argentina.
'Weak democracy'
Early in the afternoon, deputies had approved the “delegated powers” for Milei, that would allow him to govern by decree for at least a year, but with its scope curtailed by the opposition.
“We are afraid of a weak democracy, which concentrates in a single person the possibility of extortion of companies, organizations and citizens and ends up leaving us all defenseless,” said opposition representative Paula Oliveto at the time.
The original text of the law promoted the ultraliberal idea of ”limiting all state intervention that is not necessary to ensure the effective exercise of their constitutional rights.”
But “the Constitution is very clear about the socioeconomic model that Argentina has and it is capitalism with social justice. We cannot give this blank check,” the opponent Mónica Litza had argued when voting against.
The government then received tight support (134 to 121 votes) for the declaration of an economic, financial, security, tariff, energy and administrative emergency.. The opposition forced the withdrawal of the fiscal, pension and health emergencies.
During the negotiations, the government had removed the fiscal chapter from the project, which included moratoriums, money laundering and taxes on exports, with which it intended to reduce the public deficit by 5% to bring it to zero this year, a goal that resolved to comply with adjustments by executive means.
“Unfortunately the adjustment will have to be greater (…) Each of the government's expenses will have to be reviewed to comply with President Milei's order, which is zero deficit,” said Presidency spokesperson Manuel Adorni to the LN+ channel. . “Politics will understand at some point.”
Debate in the Argentine Congress of the “omnibus bill” of the Government of Javier Milei.
Last moment
Milei's party, La Libertad Avanza (LLA), continued negotiating numerous changes to the law until the last minute, including some demanded by governors of several provinces with deputies who respond to them politically. and who demand the sharing of taxes to finance their current expenses.
Among other points with resistance from legislators and governors were the privatization of 40 companies, from Aerolíneas Argentinas and Correo Argentino to media and public transportation.
“The governors made the decision to destroy the Law article by article, hours after agreeing to accompany it,” the Office of the President published in a statement.
The 10 governors of the right-wing coalition Together for Change, which in the November 19 runoff supported Milei's presidential candidacyresponded to the president that they had fulfilled their commitment to “help the government.”
“Then it is not appropriate for them to hold us responsible or to disrespect us by alleging a lack of desire for dialogue and inability on our part when in reality we work tirelessly,” they said in a statement.
If it had been approved in the Chamber of Deputies, the “Law of Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines” would have been discussed in the Senate, where LLA has only 7 of the 72 seats and needed opposition support even greater.
In the first measures of his ultraliberal government, Milei devalued the peso by more than 50% and freed all prices in the economy in December, when monthly inflation finally climbed to 25% and closed the year with 211% annually.
AFP
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