The Argentine Congress has begun to debate the bill with which the far-right Government of Javier Milei seeks to reform the State. The Chamber of Deputies began this Tuesday in committees the treatment of the initiative, which proposes in more than 600 articles a radical change to the Argentine political, economic and social system. The ruling party, in a parliamentary minority, has to gather the support of legislators from other political forces for the initiative to go ahead. The Government has said that it is “open to dialogue”, but that the content of the initiative “is not negotiated”, while some in the opposition are willing to discuss the content and others, directly, believe that the law is “a nonsense”. ”. La Libertad Avanza, Milei's party, hopes that the commissions will issue an express opinion to bring the initiative to the venue before the end of the month.
The bill that the far-right forward sent to Congress declares a “public emergency” and transfers to the Executive broad powers in economic, financial, fiscal, social, pension, security, defense, tariffs, energy, health and social issues for two years—extendable to four—. The initiative has 664 articles that address varied topics ranging from the reform of the political system or the control of social protests to the authorization of the resale of tickets to sporting events. The first step for the bill to be approved will be to obtain the opinion in committees. The exhibitions that began this Tuesday will continue, in principle, during this week.
If La Libertad Avanza obtains the favorable ruling, which is expected, the party aims for the law to be voted on in Congress the third week of January, during the period of extraordinary sessions. Afterwards, it would go to the Senate. The Government appears publicly confident that the law will be approved. The president of the La Libertad Avanza bloc of deputies, Oscar Zago, assured on Monday in a radio interview that the ruling party will work “to get 100 percent” of the law “before the end of the month.” But libertarian legislators face a reality that makes this objective difficult if the text is not modified: Milei's party has 38 of 257 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and seven of 72 seats in the Senate. To obtain consensus, you must necessarily negotiate.
PRO deputies, who respond to former conservative president Mauricio Macri (37 seats); of the Radical Civic Union (34), historical counterweight to Peronism; of the Federal Coalition, a recently created bloc with legislators from Peronism and the center-right (23), and provincial spaces have shown themselves willing to support the bill, although some groups believe that there are points that should be modified, such as the delegation of legislative powers to the Executive or the increase of some taxes. The Peronist coalition Unión por la Patria (102) and the Workers' Left Front (five), on the other hand, have been more critical and have rejected the project and its hasty treatment.
Deputy Rodrigo de Loredo, leader of the Radical Civic Union bench, expressed his willingness to support the initiative this Tuesday, but warned that his bloc is “disconcerted” that the bill does not address “the most immediate emergencies.” from Argentina. “Are we being used for a strategy that has nothing to do with the future of the country?” said the radical. In her turn, legislator María Eugenia Vidal, from the PRO, asked that “priorities” be set and deputy Oscar Agost Carreño, a fellow member, demanded: “Let yourselves be helped.” Left-wing legislator Myriam Bregman criticized the form of the project — “they set January as the deadline to discuss” — and the content — “it attacks achievements that we have fought for a lot” —. Deputy Sergio Palazzo, from Unión por la Patria, directly considered that the law is “a nonsense”: “This seems like an assault on Congress.”
The project of omnibus law, so called because of its length and the breadth of the topics covered, is being debated in a plenary session of three commissions: General Legislation, Budget and Finance, and Constitutional Affairs. Although some opposition deputies have claimed that there should be “more than 20” commissions due to the size of the project. The Minister of Justice, Mariano Cúneo Libarona, and the Secretary of Energy, Eduardo Rodríguez Chirillo, participated in the first day of presentations to give explanations about the text and starting this Wednesday the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, will attend; the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos; the head of Infrastructure, Guillermo Ferraro, and the head of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello. One of the big absentees in the forecasts, claimed by some legislators, is the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo.
The Government insisted on Tuesday, hours before the debate began, in its pressure on Congress, after days ago Milei accused the legislators who want to debate the content of the proposal of being corrupt. “We need politics to do its part. (…) Whether the law is approved depends exclusively on the national Congress and the policy it represents,” said presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni, who blamed Parliament for the rise in the value of the dollar, whose price has fluctuated in recent weeks. . Adorni said that this is a “free sample” of “how the market can take its toll” if the law is not approved as the Government believes. “The consequences are unpredictable,” he speculated.
A part of the Cabinet is intransigent to there being modifications to the bill. But other members, such as the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos, embody the most dialogue wing of the Government. Francos, a traditional and moderate politician, has been meeting with governors and mayors to listen to their complaints regarding some of the modifications proposed by the law. After the first of these meetings, which took place last week after being questioned by a group of Patagonian governors from different parties, the Government committed to “clarifying some points” of the law. This Wednesday, Francos reiterated in the plenary session of commissions that they will correct “some errors in the writing” of the text. Another member of the Cabinet, Rodríguez Chirillo, assured that the law “is not a blank check” for the Executive. These were the first signs of flexibility from the Government, we will have to see if there are more.
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