Friday, January 13, 2023 | 9:15 a.m.
The National Government made official this Friday the call for Extraordinary Sessions in Congress. On the agenda included the request for Impeachment against the Supreme Court; the project to enlarge the members of the Highest Court and a package of economic initiatives.
After days of uncertainty and disputes with the opposition over the new onslaught against the members of the Court, Decree 17/2023 was finally published this morning convening Extraordinary Sessions between January 23 and February 28.
Yesterday morning, President Alberto Fernández together with the Legal and Technical Secretary, Vilma Ibarra, met at Quinta de Olivos to finalize details of the agenda of projects that the Government intends to deal with in the remainder of the summer.
Despite the threat of Together for Change to paralyze Congress, this Thursday the Government advanced the list of initiatives to be discussed in parliament and included the request for Impeachment of Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, Juan Carlos Maqueda and Ricardo Lorenzetti for ” poor performance of their duties.” According to the legislators of the Frente de Todos, the work of the Impeachment Commission will begin in the Chamber of Deputies next Thursday, January 26.
But this is not the only project linked to Justice, the Executive Power also included in the agenda the expansion of members of the Supreme Court and an initiative to update the General Budget law of expenses and calculations of the national administration, a measure that given in the framework of the discussion with the City of Buenos Aires for co-participation funds. The Court recently ordered to restore the percentage that the Buenos Aires Government had before the pandemic.
In addition, the appointment of Daniel Rafecas as Attorney General of the Nation will be discussed, an issue that has been on the agenda since the early days of the current administration.
With respect to projects linked to the economy, the new money laundering was included, through which it seeks to create a special regime of “voluntary declaration” of undeclared savings that will reach individuals, undivided successions and the subjects included in the Article 53 of the Income Tax Law, including the modifications provided in December 2019.
The “Externalization of Argentine savings to support compliance and cancellation of the debt with the International Monetary Fund” project will cover holdings in national or foreign currency, both in the country and abroad, financial assets, movable and immovable property and others assets located in the country and abroad, including current credits.
The total collection has a planned allocation of 20% to a “Specific Fund” for payment of the debt with the IMF, another 20% will be for subsidies to the Mipimyes, another 20% to finance scholarships from the Progresar plan and 40% to programs and projects approved by the Ministry of Energy “for the exploration, development, construction and maintenance of infrastructure, transportation and production of natural gas.”
As planned, the draft Law was included to introduce modifications in the current legislation, related to the prevention and repression of Money Laundering (ML), the Financing of Terrorism (FT) and the Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Destruction. Massive (FP).
In addition, the reform project to give INDEC more autonomy was incorporated into the agenda. Indeed, it is sought that the Executive Power designate the director of the body with the agreement of the Senate, while the technical director must be appointed after a public contest.
On the other hand, the Government will seek to treat in Extraordinary the regulatory framework for the development of LNG and hydrogen as energy sources and that would include a fiscal stability program with a thirty-year horizon and rules for investments in that sector.
The new moratorium for retirees that would benefit 800,000 people was also included; the tech monotribute that aims to enable service exporters and gamers to invoice abroad and have their currencies without the need to settle them in the official market. The range of professionals that could be included in a monotribute scheme such as the one that the ruling party hopes to approve in Congress is wide, since it would range from programmers to others who are not directly related to technology, such as artists or scriptwriters who have clients abroad. With the monotributo tech they could thus send their invoices to their employees or clients abroad.
Among the initiatives included in the decree published this Friday in the Official Gazette, the Government added the “Bill for the Promotion Regime for federal, inclusive, sustainable agro-industrial development” whose objective is the development of the sectoral chain with the promotion of investments, the creation of 700,000 jobs by 2030 and the incorporation of technology.
Among other issues that will be debated in the parliamentary arena were added: the traffic law, to include zero breathalyzer; the national system of residences for health teams; the plan for the development of science, technology and innovation, and the promotion and technological development; the projects to modify the law of execution of the custodial sentence; the comprehensive approach to institutional violence in terms of security and in the penitentiary service.
In addition, the agenda includes the differential pension regime for workers who work as forest or rural fire fighters; the creation of the national park and reserve Laguna El Palmar; from the protected marine area of the Blue Hole, and from national universities; the substitution of articles of law human blood; the containment and accompaniment of people who receive a diagnosis of down syndrome, and the digitization of medical records.
