After eight months of paralysis, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate have an agenda full of projects ranging from the modification of the Rent Law to the 2024 Budget, also through the lists of judges related to Kirchnerism and the continued impeachment of the members of the Supreme Court of Justice.
It is clear that the result of the PASO will set a little pace for the activity of the Congress, which so far this year has had only five sessions: four Deputies and one in the Senate.
In the immediate, attention will be focused on the maneuver that Kirchnerism prepares to return to the charge with the 75 judicial sheets, among which is the controversial case of Ana María Figueroa, who turned 75 and refuses to retire.
Although the Frente de Todos managed to recover the wills of Edgardo Kueider and Guillermo Snopek to achieve a quorum in the Senate, it fell the support of Alberto Weretilneck, the governor-elect of Río Negro, who managed to return to the governorship from an electoral agreement with the camporista Martín Doñate, but who now must balance before the possibility that the next government will be of another political sign.
Martín Doñate and Mariano Recalde during the last failed session of the Senate, which fell due to lack of quorum. Photo: Federico López Claro.
To the urgency of the ruling party to extend Figueroa's mandate for five more years, the judge who must decide in the Hotesur - Los Sauces cases and the memorandum with Iran, both in which Cristina Kirchner is involved, other pending projects are added such as the authorization for military exercises and the "Monotributo Tech" project.
This proposal aimed at bringing dollars promotes the creation of a special regime for taxpayers who earn in dollars. The initiative has had a committee opinion since 30 May.
However, one of the initiatives that most worries the Government, especially Sergio Massa, in his dual role as presidential candidate and Minister of Economy, is the project that modifies the law to combat money laundering, a reform that is required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Argentina to conform to international standards.
This initiative, which has the half sanction of Deputies, is resisted by the opposition because it understands that it affects the autonomy of the Financial Information Unit (UIF), which would pass to the orbit of the Ministry of Economy, but the Government needs it urgently since from September Argentina will begin to be evaluated by the FATF (Financial Action Task Force).
Sergio Massa during the closing of Leandro Santoro's campaign. Photo Marcelo Carroll
In addition, the Senate has on the agenda the debate on UVA credits, a project that was also approved by the lower house, and which aims to address the difficulties faced by borrowers of these loans during the previous government.
Deputies with axis in the Budget and the Law of Rents
Undoubtedly, one of the issues that will generate greater tension in Congress after the primaries will be the 2024 Budget project, which in a certain way will mark the course of the next Government from the debt maturity scheme that the administration of Alberto Fernández will leave.
Both the opposition and the ruling party repeat that the result of the PASO will somehow define the negotiation of the project that defines the numbers for next year, when Argentina must pay the IMF a maturity of US $ 4,855 million.
Previously, the lower house has scheduled for August 23 a session to debate the rent law, based on strong pressure from the opposition. Both Patricia Bullrich and Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, both presidential candidates of Together for Change, have as a campaign promise to repeal the law and then try a new one, which would be in line with what was proposed at the time by Mario Negri (UCR).
The Chamber of Deputies will deal with the Rent Law after the PASO. Photo: Federico López Claro.
However, in the opposition there are some differences since there are sectors that propose a partial modification of the law before its elimination, while from the ruling party they bet to maintain the norm with the incorporation of some tax benefits, a measure that Kirchnerism rejected at the time of the sanction of the norm that today seeks to sustain.
But one of the projects that interests the Executive to promote exports and attract dollars is the law of Regime for the Promotion of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The regulation has almost 40 articles and offers a series of benefits for companies that comply with certain guidelines, deadlines, investment amounts and conditions.
This proposal is key to the objectives of Vaca Muerta because it creates a regulatory framework for LNG and thus allows to unlock its true gas potential.
But as a fundamental combat, Kirchnerism also wants to keep the impeachment process standing to ask for the removal of Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, Ricardo Lorenzetti and Juan Carlos Maqueda.
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