Finally, six and a half months after taking office, Javier Milei was able to celebrate the approval of the first package of laws promoted by his Government. The so-called Bases Law, with which he will try to transform Argentina under the influence of his ultra-liberal creed, obtained 147 votes in favor, 107 against and 2 abstentions in the Chamber of Deputies, after a session that lasted more than 13 hours this Thursday . Although he had to give in on his original ambitions and negotiate with the opposition to achieve the sanction, the president who defines himself as a mole called to destroy the State from within managed to get Congress to delegate to him extraordinary legislative powers in administrative, economic, financial and energy. The approved norm provides for the dismantling of the state apparatus, the deregulation of the economy and the labor market, the privatization of public companies, benefits for large companies, money laundering and tax reforms, among other measures.
On a key day for his Government, Milei followed the debate from the presidential villa in Olivos, while his sister, Karina Milei, general secretary of the Presidency, and his chief of staff, Guillermo Francos, main operator, were seen in Congress. of the Executive behind the parliamentary negotiations.
Under the name of the Law of Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines, Milei’s flagship project had been initially presented last December, days after the president’s inauguration, and its first treatment in Congress ended in a resounding failure. The second version of the mega-project lost more than half of the original 664 articles and was divided into two, the Law of Bases itself and the package of tax reforms. Both initiatives were approved in April in the House of Representatives and two weeks ago in the Senate, amid massive protests by social and union organizations. Since the senators introduced changes to the laws, this Thursday the projects had to be treated and voted on again in the Chamber of origin. The House of Representatives could insist on its partial sanction or accept the modifications, as finally occurred. Except in the case of the tax reform, which generated the great debate of the day and the announcement of multiple judicial challenges.
In the parliamentary process, Milei’s government had to make numerous concessions and come to an agreement with those whom the president denounces as the “political caste.” Among other things, it had to reduce the number of public companies to be privatized from 41 to 8 – for example, Aerolíneas Argentinas, YPF, Banco Nación, Correo Argentino and Radio y Televisión Argentina were excluded. It also had to decline the pension reform it was seeking, as well as the power to dissolve public organizations linked to science and culture. In addition, it had to agree to limit the scope of the new Regime of Incentives for Large Investments (RIGI) to the following: energy, forestry, mining, infrastructure, technology, tourism, steel, oil and gas sectors.
With 38 deputies out of a total of 257 and with 7 senators out of 72, in a large minority in both chambers, the ruling party relied on its allies from the PRO – the party led by former president Mauricio Macri – and negotiated with the opposition blocs. dialogue, especially the Radical Civic Union (UCR), non-Kirchnerist Peronism and provincial forces. Those sectors were the ones that finally endorsed the approval. The rejection was caused by Kirchnerist Peronism, the left and socialism, among others.
The debate and challenges
With the agreements regarding the Ley Bases already closed before the session, the main discussion of the day focused on the fiscal package. The tax reform project promoted by Milei included, mainly, two issues. On the one hand, the restoration of the income tax for nearly a million workers with high salaries, whose elimination Milei himself had voted for last year, when he was a deputy. This is a key tax for the financing of the provincial coffers. On the other hand, a reduction in the tax on personal assets (on wealth), for the benefit of the most well-off social sectors. Both issues had been voted affirmatively by Deputies in April, but then the Senate had excluded them from the approved project.
The Argentine Constitution establishes that if a “bill” is “totally rejected by one of the legislative chambers” it cannot be discussed again in the same year. Much of the opposition, with the support of renowned jurists, argued that the tax reforms rejected by the Senate are comparable to bills, since they had normative autonomy within a mega-proposal that included numerous laws, and that therefore they could not be discussed this year. On the other hand, the government and its allies argued that the law had been approved in general and that some articles in particular had been modified, so that the Deputies were in a position to insist on the vote on the original bill, that is, with income and personal property included.
The counterpoint surfaced again and again during the twelve hours of the session. The vote on the fiscal package was the last act of the day and the ruling party managed to ratify the text that had been approved by the Chamber of Deputies last April, although with a closer result than with the Ley Bases. In the case of the income tax, it was approved with 136 votes in favor, 116 against and 3 abstentions. In the case of personal property, with 134 in favor, 118 against and 3 abstentions.
More than 70 unions from different sectors announced that they will challenge the tax reform before international organizations and before the courts, where they will claim that its approval is unconstitutional. They also announced that the unions with the best salaries, the most affected by the reinstatement of the income tax on incomes of 1,800,000 pesos (about 2,000 dollars, at the official exchange rate), will take forceful measures.
The day after
After almost 200 days of negotiations and tensions, and an incipient wear and tear on his figure, Milei was waiting for the approval of his laws to bet on a relaunch of his Government. For July 9, the date on which Argentina’s independence is celebrated, he called a meeting in the province of Tucumán, where he hopes to bring together governors, former presidents, legislators, as well as business and union representatives, to sign a national pact. . The agreement will include a decalogue of principles and mandates to follow, made up of the usual leitmotifs Milei’s: the inviolability of private property; non-negotiable fiscal balance; reduction of public spending and tax pressure; openness to international trade; political, labor and pension reforms.
Milei also announced days ago that, with the Base Law already approved, he will take stock of the functioning of his cabinet and did not rule out changes in ministers. With the tools that the laws that he demanded so much give him in his hand, he knows that now he begins his true mandate and that he will be the main person responsible for what happens.
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