Javier Milei and his sister Karina Milei on January 15, 2024 at Ezeiza Airport (Buenos Aires). Casa Rosada
Argentine President Javier Milei's state reform law is being voted on in the Chamber of Deputies to determine whether it will be approved or rejected. The initiative received a majority opinion early Wednesday morning, albeit with dissent. A part of the opposition has given the far right the necessary support so that the project, with which Milei wants to change much of the country's political, economic and social structure, advances in the legislative process. It's a move that usually goes unnoticed as legislation makes its way to parliament, but one that has captivated Argentines in recent weeks.
The ruling is the key the ruling party needs to get its project to Congress, where it is expected to be discussed this Thursday. The original text with more than 600 articles was partially changed, although the government did not initially negotiate. Hundreds of points disappeared and others were changed after the executive branch recognized “drafting errors” and addressed the “concerns” of some lawmakers. However, the focus remains on the ultra-liberal president's economic program and the law continues to provide for controversial points such as the transfer of legislative powers to the executive branch or the restriction of protests. Local lawmakers will deal with each article in detail, and the project could fall where the ruling party is in the minority.
Argentina has been holding negotiations between the government and the opposition in committees for almost three weeks. That Tuesday evening at nine o'clock, television stations began broadcasting the debate live. After more than five hours, the 115 members of the commission voted. The ruling party received a majority opinion with 55 signatures (34 votes against) from La Libertad Avanza, Milei's party; by the PRO, founded by former conservative president Mauricio Macri; from the center-right Radical Civic Union (UCR) party; from part of the We Make Federal Coalition block and from other spaces. The first minority opinion was that of the Peronist Union for the Fatherland with 45 signatures, and there were four other minority opinions.
The government sent the bill to Congress at the end of December, which it called the “Law of the Foundations and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines.” As the news broke, tens of thousands of workers – more than 20,000 people, according to organizers – demonstrated in the streets to protest against another measure from Milei, a decree of necessity and urgency that is in force but accumulates dozens of measures Protective measures in the judiciary. This Wednesday's verdict was announced hours before the unions once again challenged the government on the streets with a general strike and mobilization scheduled for this Wednesday. This time against the bill, which is being voted on in extraordinary sessions in Congress.
In the middle of the summer break, lawmakers will now decide whether to accept or reject the initiative put forward by the right-wing extremists and amended following complaints from the opposition. The omnibus law, so called because of its length and the variety of topics it covers, declares the country a “public emergency” and proposes measures that the government and part of the opposition consider “important” for economic recovery of the country In December, the annual inflation rate was over 211.4%. The executive branch includes measures such as the privatization of state-owned companies, money laundering or increasing export taxes. However, the text also contains measures that are considered accessory.
This was one of the criticisms raised by the opposition during the debate in the committees. “Many reforms are important, but they do not solve the emergency situation that the president must resolve now, and they deserve a more in-depth discussion later in the year,” said deputy Martín Tetaz of the Radical Civic Union, signing the majority statement. On the other side were lawmakers who described the Mamotreto as “aloof,” “terrible,” or “untouchable” and the discussion of the project as “inadequate.” “There was no space for reflection or time for debate. Citizen support is not a blank check to do anything,” said Representative Margarita Stolbizer.
During the days of debate, while part of the Cabinet expressed willingness to debate “between what is necessary and what is appropriate,” the President attacked Congress to pressure the passage of the law. Milei called lawmakers corrupt for trying to debate the project, and his pressure also reached governors. “If the law is not passed, it will be worse for everyone, especially for the provinces,” the president said at the cabinet meeting this Tuesday, as reported in national media. The position was confirmed at a press conference by its spokesman Manuel Adorni, who said provinces would “review the points” if the law was not implemented.
A day earlier, a new text from the initiative was published, which deletes more than a hundred articles from the mega law and changes others. These are some of the points that most worried the opposition. According to this draft, the delegation of legislative powers to the executive branch for up to four years is limited to one year, the extension of which must be voted on in Congress; The oil company YPF, which was originally included by law in a list of companies eligible for privatization, disappears from the list; Since April, pensions have been updated monthly based on the consumer price index rather than by decree, as set out in the first version of the initiative, and the government is backtracking on its intention to close the National Fund for the Arts.
However, hundreds of reforms or repeals proposed in the law remain in the final text up for debate in the chamber. “The zero deficit has not been negotiated,” warned presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni on Tuesday. For some of the lawmakers who reject the text, the economic program proposed in the project remains “a disaster,” as described by left-wing MP Myriam Bregman, for whom “every article carries the first and last name of a business lobby.” Others emphasized their criticism of the delegation of extraordinary powers to the executive branch. “It is a very serious mistake to give more powers to this president who wants to overwhelm everything,” said Germán Martínez, leader of the Peronist group Unión por la Patria, who also criticized that the omnibus law “will benefit pensioners and the “Harms productive people.” sectors and provincial economies.
The law is so broad that warnings and rejections come from different areas. Environmental lawyers' associations have noted that despite the changes, the law remains “a clear environmental step backwards” compared to current regulations and international standards. From the cultural sector, for example, they criticize the repeal of a law that standardizes the selling price of books and protects bookstores from large chains. Many will express their demands in the mobilization called by the Argentine Confederation of Trade Unions on January 24th from 12 p.m. (local time).
The government will know whether its law will be approved or rejected in the Chamber of Deputies when the law is voted on in extraordinary sessions in the coming days. This Tuesday evening, in the last hours of the debate, a deputy from La Libertad Avanza recalled the position of the government under Milei, who took office with his back to Congress and expressed his contempt for the cameras: “We don't believe that Politics will be the solution, we believe that the solution lies in the citizens. We need the state to take the foot away from us Argentinians so that we can work and do something.”