The failure of the 'Omnibus Law' unleashes the first major crisis of the Milei Government

Writing and telling what happens in Argentine politics is a very complicated task for journalists. Not because of access to information sources, but because reality changes minute by minute and news can become old in just the blink of an eye.

Since the president of Argentina, the far-right economist Javier Milei, sent to the National Congress on December 27, 2023 his “Law of Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines”, popularly known as 'Law Ómnibus' because of the enormous amount of reforms it contains, politics in the South American country, unintentionally, He was “writing” a story that could well be titled “Chronicle of a Death Foretold 2.0.”

In less than a week, heThe Chamber of Deputies went from generally approving the 'Omnibus Law' to withdrawing it. In the middle, with Milei on tour in Israel, the project got stuck in debate article by article, it was decided to return to committee and, finally, it was ordered to leave it in stand by.

This situation was reached due to the demonstrated need of a president who, since his arrival at the Casa Rosada on December 10, has sought to rewrite everything or almost everything.

Milei wanted to impose her mark. First with the Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) to deregulate the economy and then with the 'Omnibus Law'. All without further dialogue and without taking into account the consensus with the opposition. In his two months in office, Milei has demonstrated his reluctance towards negotiation and agreements.

The strategy led him to encounter an intransigent Congress, which asserted its role as a counterweight to the Executive and gave him his first great lesson: reject your central project.

For political scientist Roberto Nolazco, manager of the Public Affairs and Issue Management area of ​​Prospectiva Public Affairs Latam, This situation was reached due to “incompetence and lack of experience in the arena.”

“It was an ambitious project, sloppy in its writing. Let us remember that the original text presented by the Executive had very gross legislative technical errors. All were corrected and corrected during the committee debate and during the committee's treatment. But the messes were still there,” the expert explained to France 24.

Nolazco considers that the withdrawal of the project represents a “very strong defeat” for the Government.

“What happened strongly affected the ruling party, which showed on the one hand that the coalition it tried to form did not respond to it in Congress,” he said.

Milei's management in the coming months will continue to be very tough

Regarding the future of the law, he believes that the most logical and reasonable solution would be for it to be dealt with in separate articles.

However, The ruling party slipped the possibility of calling a popular consultation. According to Nolazco, it would be “Russian roulette.”

“Milei's management in the coming months will continue to be very tough. Inflation remains very high. So, calling a popular consultation seems like Russian roulette to me. He could shoot badly and his government would run out before he was one year old,” he stated.

Another problem that the Government would face, according to the political scientist, is that voting is not mandatory by the Constitution.

Milei and her list of “traitors”

On the other hand, what Milei and her party, La Libertad Avanza, face after this first defeat is that despite the ideological differences, the legislators are political rivals and not enemies, because at some point they will need their support, as was required to to be able to generally approve a law with only 27 deputies out of 253.

After the Government decided to return the bill to committees (before it was withdrawn), the President's Office published a list on its X account with the names of all the deputies who, according to the ruling party, “voted against from town”.

“The Office of the President appreciates the legislative commitment of the PRO Front bloc, headed by Cristian Ritondo, of the deputy Miguel Ángel Pichetto, and of the UCR sector that accompanied the project, as well as all the deputies who this Tuesday voted in favor in particular of the 'Law of Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines'”, begins the statement spread on social networks.

“It also highlights the betrayal of their voters by all the blocks that turned their backs on their campaign promises for a different Argentina. The people will never forget the names of those who, being able to facilitate the reforms that were elected by 56% of Argentines, decided to continue playing into the hands of caste.”adds the text, which closes with the lists of legislators who voted “for the people” and “against the people.”

From Israel, Milei described the members of his blacklist as “criminals”, “swindlers”, “liars” and “corrupt”.

“It is a quite interesting day to talk about Argentina because yesterday (Tuesday, October 6), in the session of the Chamber of Deputies, the political caste, as we call that group of criminals who want a worse Argentina because they are not willing to give up their privileges, they began to dismantle our law,” the president said in a meeting with businessmen in Jerusalem.

Milei assured that she prefers “that nothing comes out before a bad law that continues to defend corrupt politicians.”

“Going against these instruments (the DNU and the law) leaves them on the side of the thieves, scammers, liars and corrupt people who have sunk Argentina,” he stated.

The Government exposes the “traitors” to public opinion with the intention that they be perceived as those responsible for the failure of the 'Omnibus Law', and thus avoids making a mea culpa.

According to Nolazco, the way in which the ruling party announced the names of the deputies who voted against the law follows a “very populist logic.”

“They didn't say 'they voted against this project', but 'the deputies who voted in favor of the people and the deputies who voted against the people.' That friend-enemy, people-anti-people logic is a very populist logic. Milei's campaign was very populist. Populism has some features, it is neither right nor left, it is a way of reaching and staying in power,” he indicated.

The political scientist believes that, if the confrontation between the ruling party and Congress continues, “surely the reforms it promotes will continue to come out through Decrees of Necessity and Urgency.”

Inmates in La Libertad advance the presentation of a project that seeks to repeal legal abortion

In the midst of the crisis, deputy Rocío Bonacci, from La Libertad Avanzapresented a project to repeal the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Lawsanctioned by the National Congress on December 30, 2020 and promulgated on January 14, 2021.

The journalist Florencia Galarza, specialized in gender and Human Rights, assures that It is a project to “divert attention” and a smoke screen after the failure of the 'Omnibus Law'.

“Javier Milei knows he is weak in parliamentary terms and, therefore, in terms of governability. The smoke screen he seeks by bringing to the agenda an issue as compelling as the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy is a double-edged sword for him and his management. In this case, perhaps the remedy is worse than the disease,” he told France 24.

“It is a bill to repeal the abortion law with a much more restrictive spirit than the penal code of 1921, since it wants to classify the voluntary interruption of pregnancy as a criminal offense, not only for pregnant people who abort, but also for the health professionals who participate in the intervention,” he added.

The journalist explained that it is “also more restrictive because it eliminates rape as an exceptional cause for non-punishable abortion and the resolution of the situation would be at the personal discretion of the judge intervening in the case.”

Galarza maintains that “Not only is it an attack on the Human Rights of women and pregnant people who are prevented from deciding about their own bodies, but the decision will be in the hands of the ideology, religion or mood of the day of the magistrate who has to judge” .

However, the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, disassociated the Government from the project and assured that “it is not part of the president's agenda.”

“It has not been a decision of the president and it has not been promoted in any way by the Executive Branch,” he said this Thursday in his usual conference with the media.