BUENOS AIRES.- The Government of president Javier Milei announced this Thursday that he will insist that all chapters of the controversial basic law, including the one that contemplates the privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas, be approved after the Senate gave the “green light” to the measure after several modifications.
“Years of work have been put into this law, so clearly it is going to be insisted upon, of course, because it is something that we believe in and it is something that we are convinced of,” the Government spokesperson said in a press conference. Manuel Adorni.
Adorni explained that “all public companies are plausible for privatization.” “We will see if the moment is now or with this legislative push or it will be later. That will be defined by the Chamber of Deputies,” he added.
wild Argentina
On the other hand, Adorni described the protests that occurred the day before against the Base Law as the “other Argentina” or the “savage Argentina” and stated that the violence is “absolutely reprehensible.” In total, there have been 31 arrests.
The Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, repeated this Thursday the words that President Javier Milei spoke about the violent protests: “it is a modern coup d’état.”
The text, of more than 200 articles and which is a reduced version of the Omnibus Law, will return to Parliament to receive the final approval of the recent modifications. This legislation includes a controversial labor reform and the privatization of certain public companies, although Aerolíneas Argentinas, Radio y Televisión Argentina (RTA) and Correo Argentino were left out.
Governance sign
If approved, these will be Milei’s first laws since he became president in December and a political victory that would guarantee greater governability in a challenging context because his party is in the minority in both legislative chambers and where the greatest weight is from Kirchnerism – the center-left Peronist sector that governed much of the last 20 years.
Milei needs the laws to confront the economic recession, inflation – the deceleration of which must continue to be supported – and poverty that affects more than 55% of the populationaccording to private studies.
Reforms approved and discarded
The draft of the so-called Bases Law declares a public emergency in administrative, economic, financial and energy matters for a period of one year and empowers the Executive Branch to arrogate special powers in those areas, such as making decisions by decree without the need to go through The congress. It also includes incentives for large investments for 30 years and facilities for the exploitation of natural resources and transfers of profits abroad.
Regarding the modifications, the ruling party agreed to exclude Aerolíneas Argentinas, Correo Argentino and public media from the list of state companies that can be privatized. On the other hand, a chapter that eliminated a pension moratorium for workers who do not reach the 30 years of contributions required by law to retire was removed from the project.
The presidential spokesperson warned this Thursday that the government considers that all public companies can be privatized and noted that “we will see if the time” to achieve this is in the lower house when the debate resumes “or later.”
Regarding the fiscal package, the senators approved the creation of a new money laundering system for taxpayers who do not have their assets declared in the country but rejected a chapter that contemplated the reestablishment of a tax on salaries and that the government needed to recompose the treasury income. Also that related to the personal property regime in the country and abroad that increased the floor from which a person could be reached by the tribute.
popular support
According to analysts, Milei has been exercising his power trying to leverage the more than 46% of popular support that he still enjoys Despite the brutal economic adjustment that has been applied, to pressure the political class in decision-making.
“If one wonders how Milei manages to convince other actors to accompany him in his decisions, the strategy has been to tell people that politicians do not let him govern and in this way put pressure on legislators to give him the laws”said Lucas Romero, director of the consulting firm Synopsis Consultores. The ruling party La Libertad Avanza has just 10% of the seats in the Senate and 15% of those in the lower house.
Romero pointed out that “there are many prospects” that the legislative packages will end up being approved in the Chamber of Deputies “because there is a dialogue sector of the opposition that needs to demonstrate to its voters that it gives tools to the president” – who in the elections of November obtained around 56% of the votes – and “that it is not going to leave it without any law.”
Impressive triumph
Chief of Staff Guillermo Francos – leader of the negotiations in Congress – said that “despite modifications that have arisen and some issues that have fallen, it remains an impressive triumph up to this point” of the government the approval of the reforms in the Senate and indicated that the ruling party “will try to recover in the Chamber of Deputies” the initiatives that suffered setbacks.
The rejection of some points of the tax reform did not reach an aggravated majority of two-thirds in the Senate, which could make it easier for the ruling party to restore them when they are reviewed by the lower house, which can assert a simple majority.
Marcelo J. García, director for the Americas of the geopolitical risk firm Horizon Engage, said that the government is demonstrating “that it is on a political learning curve, which is positive for investors and markets, whose main concern is knowing to what extent their promises of reform will materialize. But he warned that the Executive “will have to dialogue issue by issue to implement at least part of its reform agenda.”
Source: With information from Europa Press / AP / lanacion.com.ar
