Strong pressure from Kirchnerism to bring down the Bases Law at the start of the debate in the Senate

With crosses, chicanes and strong pressure from Kirchnerismthe Senate began this Tuesday with the committee’s treatment of the Bases Law and the fiscal package, which have half the approval of Deputies and which The ruling party seeks to issue an office next Thursday with the intention of taking it to the premises on May 16.

During the debate of the Executive laws, which took place within the framework of a plenary session of the commissions of General Legislation, Budget and Constitutional Affairs, there were moments of tension between Unión por la Patria and the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos, who was accompanied by members of the national cabinet.

The audience was crossed by alleged irregularities detected in the vote of Deputies and the “typing errors” between the approved version and the text sent to the Senate. José Mayans, head of the Peronist bloc, raised his concern about what happened in Deputies. “If there really was this error, it is an impediment for it to be dealt with in the Senate, this changes the vote”stated the man from Formosa.

Thus, Kirchnerism tried to close the debate in committee by taking advantage of the typing errors that occurred in Deputies with Juliana Di Tullio, Anabel Fernández Sagasti and even Sergio Leavy, making different proposals. The man from Salta came to ask “an investigation by the Government, the Senate and the Deputies” about what happened with the inclusion of the chapter linked to the tobacco taxwhich with its elimination benefited Pablo Otero, the owner of Tabacalera Sarandí, also known as the “Lord of Tobacco.”

But the pressure of the K is not limited to the scope of Congress because The militancy has already begun to pressure radical senators and those from the dialogue sectors through a wave of calls and messages to vote against the Bases Law.

Francos responded to the Peronist offensive while from the Deputies, Martín Menem confirmed that there was “simple involuntary typing errors in the transcription of the communication of the law” and accompanied with an errata. The political minister reinforced the official position by pointing out that he was in the Deputies voting and assured that he did not see “anything abnormal.” “All political sectors expressed themselves, raised their differences and half-sanction was given to the law, with some transcription errors that were resolved in the errata,” he concluded.

Everything originated from a request from Germán Martínez, head of UxP in Deputies, to nullify the communication sent to the Senate because it has differences with what was approved on the premises last week. This is because in article 151 that has to do with LNG and article 170 linked to RIGI, there are changes in the wording of both texts.

In the first case, the term “export authorization” is changed to “export permit”, while in the second, the original establishes minimum amounts by “productive sector or subsector” or by “productive stage”, while in The communication to the Senate says “productive sector.”

Beyond the questions that there were in Deputies, Francos sought the offensive of the K when he stated that Milei took office in “the worst crisis in the entire history of democracy” and pointed out that “there was no legitimate dollar in the Central Bank,” and that is why a large part of production was “paralyzed” since there were no imports.

But Mayans came out quickly to cross it, criticized Javier Milei’s policy, questioned the economic numbers and stated that inflation last year, during the administration of Alberto Fernández, had “an average of 8.7%, but his government has already had more than 90%.”

“If you want to chicane, chicane all you want, but you have wrong numbers,” challenged the head of the political portfolio, who at the senator’s insistence replied: “He is chicaning, I know him. He said the same thing as with DNU 70 and it’s false”.

Mayans also wanted to ask the minister about his opinion regarding Milei’s criticism of Congress. “I don’t think they are a rat’s nest. I take responsibility for my words and sometimes I understand the President’s questions, which he does not express well”Francos responded.

Another of those who participated in the offensive was Oscar Parrilli, who charged against the reform of the administrative procedure law, which in his opinion is creating “a stupid State for the benefit of legal firms that litigate against Argentina.” But the tension, in reality, was generated when Leavy questioned Milei’s privatization plan and wanted to link Francos to the sales process of state companies in the ’90s.

“I was never part of the government of (Carlos) Menem”, said the minister to deny having participated in that stage of the privatizations. “This is going to be the first and hopefully we can do it well,” he added. But in the face of pressure from Peronism, he retorted with the cost generated by the renationalization of YPF. “Due to the nationalization of YPF, today we owe 16 billion dollars and the prejudice was generated by you, Senator Parrilli”Francos returned.

While the plenary session of commissions was taking place, the leadership of the UxP block of senators received representatives of the CGT and the two CTA to hear their rejection of the labor reform and the restitution of the Income Tax. Then Juliana Di Tullio asked that the union representatives be summoned for next week. Abdala, president of the General Legislation commission, accepted the Kirchnerism request.

This situation may modify the schedule of the ruling party that sought to issue an office on Thursday to discuss the project on May 16 at the venue.

The Minister of the Interior was accompanied by the Deputy Chief of Staff, José Rolandi; and the Secretaries of the Treasury, Carlos Guberman; and Strategic Planning, María Ibarzábal Murphy.

In this context, Rolandi tried to defend the fiscal package and the most notable thing is that the Government is proposing “the general Argentine tax regime be brought closer” to what is proposed as the investment regime (RIGI). “The fiscal package comes to attack the situation, to be able to provide the treasury with resources to be able to maintain fiscal balance in a sustainable way,” he stressed.

“As we settle the accounts and obtain fiscal solidity, we are going to propose a tax reform that reduces the tax burden and that in a period of no more than 14 years the general regime begins to converge with the RIGI and reaches the entire productive sector. Argentinian”.

However, Martin Lousteau He questioned the “hyper-generous” nature of the program aimed at attracting investments and targeting sectors that already have benefits. “Is there a need for so much benefit for these investments to take place? It is clearly thinking for some specific sectors,” added the head of national radicalism.

This Wednesday, the plenary session of commissions will continue with the participation of the Secretary of Labor, Julio Cordero and other officials, while on Thursday the ruling party will seek to sign an opinion.

Beyond this situation, the ruling party The votes are not guaranteed to guarantee that both the Base Law and the fiscal package are approved without modifications to prevent both proposals from having to return to Deputies.

The thing is that the Unión por la Patria bloc, chaired by José Mayans, has 33 votes and apparently is tight enough so that there are no leaks, at least in the general vote. It only needs 4 votes to reject the law, which would leave the ruling party with nothing and the latent threat that Kirchnerism will unite the wills of the Deputies and bring down the mega DNU 70/23, which already has the rejection of the Senate.

That is why attention is focused on what Edgardo Kueider and Carlos “Camau” Espínola, who together with Alejandra Vigo, are part of Unidad Federal, can do. The first two kept their vote reserved but agreed that the Senate will fulfill its role as a review chamber. While the senator from Córdoba could give support to the ruling party since Deputies, the representatives of her area voted in favor of her.

What is also arousing interest is what Santa Cruz residents José Carambia and Natalia Gadano do, who have voted alongside Peronism to reject the DNU. Francos has been negotiating with Governor Claudio Vidal, but both senators denied responding to the provincial leader.

In the midst of this scenario, the governor of Catamarca, Raúl Jalil, came out to strongly support the approval of both laws due to the interest of mining companies in the investment promotion regime. However, Lucía Corpacci already anticipated his rejection while it is unknown how Guillermo Andrada will vote.

Meanwhile, Osvaldo Jaldo from Tucumán, who already moves as a direct ally of the libertarians, tried to tempt senators Sandra Mendoza and Juan Manzur, but, in principle, both legislators are in favor of rejection.

Doubts are also in the ranks of radicalism with Martín Lousteau and Pablo Blanco from Fuegian, who rejected DNU 70/23. Added to them is Maximiliano Abad, who is pressing for the Senate to fulfill its role as a reviewing chamber. While the ruling party closely follows the movements of Daniel Kroneberger from Pampa.

The ruling party seeks to speed up the approval of both laws so that they are ready for the signing of the pact that President Javier Milei will sign with the governors, an act scheduled for May 25.