The libertarians seek in Congress to advance in negotiations with sectors of the opposition that will allow them to sustain the measures of economic deregulation that Javier Milei embodied in a mega decree of necessity and urgency, which both deputies and senators agreed in questioning the form but not the content. Several leaders of Juntos por el Cambio even gave positive signals to most of the reforms promoted by the President in his first week in office.
The paths through which the government seeks to travel to keep the DNU standing are not yet defined, but as the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos, had anticipated, the possibility of a mirror law, which was one of the proposals that had been put forward by Senator Martin Lousteau, the new head of the Radical Civic Union, is ruled out (UCR). But in Congress they do not consider the dialogue closed, nor will they leave the bicameral commission of DNU to Kirchnerism.
Both Victoria Villarruel, from the presidency of the Senate, and Martín Menem, from the House of Representatives, first seek to cool down the impact caused by the mega decree, but at the same time they hold meetings to try to gather wills, knowing that between the two chambers they do not have 50 votes of their own.
Until the beginning of this week, Villarruel and Menem were engaged in the fight over the distribution of the commissions, and when the presidential decree was announced, the debate was opened over the formation of the bicameral Legislative Procedure, the way that the ultra-K want to use to stop the DNU, even discarding the judicial route. "We are not going to go to court to complain about the legality of a decree when we in the Chamber of Deputies are impeaching them," reasoned an important figure of the Union for the Homeland (UP).
But beyond Peronism's haste to come out and cross Milei's announcement, the libertarians' bet is to bring the anti-K opposition closer. That is why Menem, together with the Minister of the Interior, met this Thursday with Miguel Angel Pichetto, Emilio Monzó, Nicolás Massot and Margarita Stolbizer, in the office of the presidency, on the first floor of the Legislative Palace.
There was good dialogue and the deputies of Cambio Federal reminded Menem and Francos of the experience they had in 2018 with the deregulation DNU that Mauricio Macri sent and that later, due to lack of support, they had to transform into bills. Not to mention the appointments of Horacio Rosatti and Carlos Rosenkrantz to the Supreme Court of Justice, which was also proposed by decree and then the then president also had to comply with the legislative process.
At the meeting, they also told him that there is agreement with a large part of the decree, but they pointed out that the government must build consensus and gain support for the measures to become law. In addition, this would avoid the judicialization of the decree that "will only generate more instability and uncertainty."
It is true that in the 40 years since the return of democracy, no decree has been rejected, but it is also true that a package of measures of this volume and scope has never been sent. In addition, both deputies and senators feel that they were mistreated by Milei, first by not giving his speech in the chamber and now by sending a mega DNU. But they also don't want to go into a head-on clash with the government.
That is why, unlike UP, which seeks to stop the DNU through the bicameral, the UCR asks for room for maneuver and when the attempt at the mirror law failed, in the last few hours it proposed that the bills of the thorniest issues be sent to Congress. "There is a willingness to collaborate on many of the issues, but with a DNU like this they complicate it," said an important Radical deputy.
"If the government does not consider sending the corresponding laws to Congress, which is the right way, partial approvals on a large part of the proposals may help, or the government may be willing to submit the reforms in a segmented way in several DNUs for treatment," said Rodrigo De Loredo.
The deputies of the radicalism had a zoom meeting this Friday to analyze the issue of the DNU and two well-marked positions were reflected. Those who are behind Lousteau and Gerardo Morales say that they cannot go along with the decree and those who propose to engage in a dialogue with the ruling party to move forward with the measures that the government needs for its reform.
There is support for the DNU if the government sends the bills to Congress
The proposal not to reject the DNU in exchange for sending some bills to Congress would have the support of the governors of Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change), who agreed with a high percentage of the measures promoted by Milei. They would also add the legislators of Cambio Federal and the provincial blocs, who are also not enthusiastic about being part of the call for a session to reject a DNU, when the President still maintains a positive image.
The Civic Coalition said that it is an option that should be worked on, but they understand that the ruling party would have to take the initiative. "We have to give legal certainty to the changes that are worthwhile," they reflected from the space that has Elisa Carrio as a reference.
While the talks are progressing, Villarruel and Menem are trying to gain time by delaying the negotiations for the formation of the commissions and especially the bicameral Legislative Procedure, which is made up of 8 deputies and 8 senators. Villarruel has already decided to give 3 seats to UP and 5 will be divided between the new majority he formed to keep the provisional presidency and the main positions of the Senate.
For La Libertad Avanza they propose Juan Carlos Pagotto from the Senate, while Víctor Zimmermann from Chaco is going for the UCR. The PRO promotes Luis Juez, the Federal Unit Carlos "Camau" Espínola and Cambio Federal Juan Carlos Romero. However, a conflict has already arisen in this chamber because the bloc chaired by José Mayans proposed 4 senators, one more than provided by the president of the Senate: María Teresa González, Mariano Recalde, Anabel Fernández Sagasti and Silvia Sapag.
For Deputies, Oscar Zago, for La Libertad Avanza; Francisco Monti, from the UCR, Hernán Lombardi, from the PRO; and Nicolás Massot, from Cambio Federal. It is not yet defined whether UP would be left with 4 or 3 seats in the bicameral seat. Nor were the names revealed.