The Argentine Congress will resume this Thursday the debate on President Javier Milei's controversial reform package, in a context of tension after the incidents recorded on the night of Wednesday, January 31, between protesters and security forces outside parliament.
The Chamber of Deputies, in which the ruling party has only 38 of 257 seats, deliberated on Wednesday for more than 12 hours and then went to the intermission room until 12 noon this Thursday.
Through alliances, Milei hopes to have the support to approve “in general” the Omnibus Law of economic, political and security reforms and environmental of nearly 300 articles, but the final result will depend on the “article by article” vote on the law.
The opposition anticipated that the project will undergo changes and, in fact, The debate began with the ruling party listing a long list of articles removed from the original ruling, whose text is still completely unknown and is still being negotiated.
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Thousands of people gathered on Wednesday night in front of Congress in repudiation of the law. There were moments of tension between protesters and uniformed officers, who fired pepper spray at them following the government's so-called “anti-picketing” protocol, which prohibits street closures.
Left-wing leaders reported four to six arrests, without a precise number being known at the moment.
Protesters clash with police during a demonstration against the “omnibus bill” in Argentina.
“There was a group of girls singing the anthem, they beat them, they took them away and they didn't let us get on to preserve their integrity,” opposition deputy Eduardo Toniolli told reporters.
Security Minister Patricia Bullrich published on the X network that her “protocol for maintaining public order IS COMPLIED WITH.”
The Peronist opposition, which governed until December, and the left-wing minority (104 deputies) reject the project, which includes granting Milei “delegated” legislative powers, which alarm his critics.
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Once approved, the law will go to the Upper House, where the ruling party has only 7 of the 72 senators, but hopes to reissue the alliances of Deputies.
“The project is controversial, but only for those who want to take care of their privileges, which come from the previous model that brought us here, to this place of misery, destitution,” said the ultra-liberal official deputy, José Luis Espert, when opening the session on Wednesday.
“I know that citizens are mature to live in freedom,” he said.
Debate in the Argentine Congress of the “omnibus bill” of the Government of Javier Milei.
The head of the La Libertad Avanza (LLA) bloc in the Chamber of Deputies, Oscar Zago, estimated that the project will probably be approved on Friday. and assured that his space “is willing to dialogue” to make the necessary modifications.
”As the matter comes, we would not finish today but perhaps tomorrow (Friday, February 2). We are hopeful that we will pass the law as it is, but we are always willing to dialogue. If we correct something, it is to enrich the law,” El Observador radio said in statements.
We are hopeful that we will pass the law as it is, but we are always willing to dialogue
Last week, The government withdrew a highly questioned “fiscal chapter” from the project, with which he sought to ensure the “zero deficit” in the fiscal accounts.
He also resigned changes in the pension system, that would affect the periodic update of the income of almost six million retirees, depreciated by inflation.
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The opposition objects in particular to the extension and scope of the “delegated powers” that allows governing by decree and that Milei demanded to introduce reforms that are excluded in the Law.
The original text of the Omnibus Law assured Milei of a cut in public spending of around 5% of GDP, which it now promises to achieve with other adjustment measures.
Since he took office, 50 days ago, Milei concentrated its reforms on this Omnibus Law and on a megadecree with which it intends to refound the economic system and modify hundreds of norms and laws, to reverse a crisis that keeps more than 45% of Argentines in poverty, with annual inflation of 211% in 2023.
Javier Milei, president of Argentina, at the Davos Forum.
Milei has already moved forward with a 50% devaluation of the peso and the release of all prices in the economy, which accelerated inflation to 25.5% in December.
The $44 billion credit program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was also revived, which praised those first adjustments but predicted a 2.8% recession in the Argentine economy in 2024.
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After being elected, Milei had recognized that the country would go through a period of “stagflation” that he estimated would last two years.
On Wednesday, the IMF approved the disbursement of $4.7 billion – to pay off its own debt – in support of Milei's “bold measures,” although it warned that “the path to stabilization will be difficult.”
AFP and La Nación/ Argentina (GDA)
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