The Government granted changes in the conflictive points of the “omnibus law” and the discussion was unblocked

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After four straight days of frenetic negotiations, the Government granted changes to the five most controversial points of the “omnibus law” and unblocked the discussion in the Chamber of Deputies. Due to pressure from the “dialogue” opposition, the Casa Rosada agreed to postpone the vote until next week and the possibility of holding a session on Saturday was buried.

The negotiations came to fruition after a series of meetings in the office of the president of the lower house, Martín Menem, attended by the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos, and the presidential advisor Santiago Caputo, who communicated on behalf of President Javier Milei the modifications that they are willing to accept.

Although the fine print still needs to be polished, Francos informed the heads of the PRO blocks, Cristian Ritondo; from the UCR, Rodrigo De Loredo; from We Make the Federal Coalition, Miguel Pichetto; and Federal Innovation, Pamela Calletti, who are willing to change the articles on delegated powers, privatizations, retentions and retirements, and withdraw part of the electoral reform.

That was the message that the minister carried in meetings he held separately with the representatives of each block. In the next few days, they will send the final wording and the benches will confirm whether they support it, although the reactions were satisfactory and everything is heading towards a joint opinion with the ruling party.

“We are aiming for the law to have half a sanction next week,” Ritondo highlighted, and mentioned that about 100 articles will be retouched. The Macrista arrived at the summit accompanied by the former Buenos Aires governor María Eugenia Vidal. Another PRO deputy, Damián Arabia, posted an image of a white smoke.

“It was a good meeting. They brought us a summary of the topics and were receptive to our proposals,” agreed De Loredo, who attended alone and then gathered his group to inform them of the news.

The last to enter the offices on the first floor of the Palace was Pichetto, who did so together with Emilio Monzó, Nicolás Massot, Ricardo López Murphy, Juan Manuel López and Florencio Randazzo, in addition to Calletti from Salta, who presides over another “collaborative” block. referenced in governors.

“We saw a predisposition that the Government had not shown until now,” Massot highlighted. “The positive thing is that for the first time we opened the dialogue,” added Calletti.

Modifications

According to what De Loredo confided to the accredited press, the Government agreed to limit the “superpowers” ​​of Milei. The number of emergencies declared in the project will be limited and the deadline will be reduced to one year. It was one of the points that appeared in red in the “traffic lights” that all non-Kirchnerist blocks created.

Regarding the mobility of retirements, Francos conveyed that they are evaluating two options: adjust them by CPI on a monthly basis from the month prior to the passing of the law, or directly withdraw the issue and continue with the current formula, which updates salaries every six months. due to a combination of salary evolution and Anses collection.

The withholdings chapter was also addressed, with more good news for the opposition: they agree to reverse the 15% rate for regional economies and bring it back to zero. There was no talk about what will happen to the industrial sector.

The electoral reform, by which the single-member constituency system was implemented to elect national deputies, will be left for a later discussion, but the elimination of the PASO (Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primaries) could be maintained. The Government also insists on maintaining the article that eliminates limits on private financing.

Regarding privatizations, Francos announced that they will remove YPF from the list of 41 companies, and the rest will be submitted to Congress for evaluation on a case-by-case basis. The documents would be sent to a bicameral monitoring commission that was created in the ’90s.

Another important change is that they will eliminate from the project the article that ratified the DNU on economic deregulation. The treatment of the decree will remain in the hands of the Bicameral Legislative Procedure Commission, but Menem continues to delay the formation of the Deputies.

The president of the Chamber finally had to give up the possibility of meeting on Saturday, as he had been insisting in public. Pichetto himself had warned the head of the Chamber that he should put the idea aside given the limited time there was to agree on a text and rule on it in the three committees.

“There is no material possibility that tomorrow (this Friday) there will be a serious ruling,” was the message sent to Menem from Hacemos Federal Coalition.

Meanwhile, anger and indignation reigned in Unión por la Patria: the interior deputies who make up Germán Martínez’s bloc stayed in Buenos Aires in case Menem called a meeting, while several pro-government members left for their provinces. “This has never been seen in the history of the Chamber,” they complained in Peronism/Kirchnerism.