Given the speed that the ruling party wants to give to the treatment of the Omnibus Law, the non-Kirchnerist opposition stopped the ball and this Wednesday stood firm: If La Libertad Avanza does not want surprises in the session, it will have to wait for mature consensuswhich means postponing the signing of the opinion and the vote until next week.
That was the message that deputies Miguel Ángel Pichetto and Emilio Monzó brought to the president of the lower house, Martín Menem, while they wait for the Executive Branch to return the proposed modifications they made this week, within the framework of the “table” that the ruling party set up with the “dialogue” opposition.
In the ruling party They were excited about the idea of signing an opinion this Friday in the General Legislation, Constitutional Affairs and Budget committees, to vote on it in the chamber on Saturday. They even began to talk to legislative employees about the logistical issue of being able to open the venue on a weekend.
Howeverthe consensuses with the PRO, the UCR and We Make the Federal Coalition are not yet closed because responses from the Executive are missing. There is also the complication that Javier Milei is not in the country and only arrived from Switzerland on Friday. Nobody dares to risk what the president’s reaction will be to a postponement of the session.
«They don’t give us the time. If the session does not go well in the committees, it will be messy. The opinion became substantial to order the vote in particular«, they stated in the block We Make the Federal Coalition, referring to the voting that is carried out article by article in the room.
The negotiations got stuck this Wednesday on the retirement issue, given that the envoys of the Ministry of Economy, with the Secretary of Finance, Pablo Quirno, at the head, They resisted going back on the suspension of retirement mobility and insist on not tying the increases to any formula.
The dialogue too was bogged down by the proposal to raise withholdings to regional economies to 15%, something that the UCR, the PRO and We Make the Federal Coalition are not willing to accept.
Meanwhile, as this media reported, The UCR and the Pichetto bloc made progress in the last few hours in preparing a “preventive” opinion, that they will have ready in case La Libertad Avanza maintains an intransigent attitude and does not accept changes. They define it as “plan B”.
The PRO does not participate in that opinion so far. But Another “middle” block called Federal Innovation did join the conversations, which has nine members who respond to the governors of Salta, Gustavo Sáenz, of Río Negro, Alberto Weretilneck, and of Neuquén, Rolando Figueroa.
This opinion proposes, among other things, limit the number of emergencies by eliminating some such as defense, pension and health emergencies; and limit the delegated powers to one year, with the possibility of extension with the authorization of Congress.
Other issues are being consulted with opposition governors, such as export duties, the regulation of biofuels and the destination of the FGS (Sustainability Guarantee Fund).
Regarding privatizations, there are different proposals: limit the number of companies, deal with one law per company, or intervene through a bicameral monitoring commission created in the ’90s. . . . And they propose to “kick” for March the discussion on the areas of culture, childhood, education and the environment.
“The ideal would be to sign an opinion all together,” they say in Pichetto’s space, including La Libertad Avanza and the PRO. Otherwise, The risk is that the majority opinion ends up being that of Unión por la Patria and the left, which are going for total rejection.
The head of the Peronist bloc, Germán Martínez, He warned this Wednesday in the committees that the “core” of the project are “15 articles” that are being negotiated with the rest of the opposition in Menem’s office. while the plenary sessions take place with guests in the annex building.
“They challenge all political forces, because it is the fundamental core of the adjustment and the political project that President Milei has: superpowers; an adjustment at the expense of current retirements; an adjustment of future retirements by liquidating the FGS; an adjustment to the regional economies and leaving the provinces in a lapidary state; and privatizations to end up raffling off the capital of all Argentines”Martinez listed.
In that sense, he asked himself if “we want a president with superpowers, a huge adjustment for retirees, a liquidation of funds, squandering the capital of companies, shattering regional economies… a piece is going to be played here and another on the opposite sidewalk”.
Along the same lines, Myriam Bregman (Left Front) demanded that “the members of the opposition who are meeting in front tell us what they are discussing. Would they shorten the time of delegated powers? So that? So that they can hurt us faster? “Let them come and tell us what they are doing in front.”
From the ruling party, Alberto Benegas Lynch responded that when The Minister of Justice, Mariano Cúneo Libarona, attended, they asked him why Luis Caputo did not come, and “the deputy chief of staff was here and they did not ask him a single question.”
She also said that the Minister of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello, sent all her officials, but they continued to insist that she attend. “You can ask them all you want, or are you just willing to criticize a minister without going to the content?” He suggested.
The crossings took place at the beginning of a new information meeting with 61 guests from civil society, although there was little presence of deputies. Representatives of peanut production, labor lawyers, the National Theater Institute, Río Turbio Carboniferous Deposits, Amnesty International and the Book Chamber, among others, presented.