Pressed by the timing of the debate on the Omnibus Law, the Government finally decided this Friday
to extend the extraordinary sessions
of Congress.
He did so in a context of progress in the negotiations with the dialogue opposition, but also thinking that if it achieves approval next week in the Deputies, it will still require passage through the Senate and it would be
difficult to obtain the sanction before January 31
, the deadline established in the call.
Thus, the Executive extended the sessions until
February 15
, in addition to including three bills on the agenda to address in this period: on the entry of foreign troops for a military exercise, a change to defense issues of the Omnibus Law and a project to amend the Penal Code and Law No. 25,246 regarding the Prevention and Repression of Money Laundering.
The decision to extend extraordinary measures was taken after Javier Milei's return to the country. After what he considered
"a devastating trip"
, which included two stopovers and a delay that almost made him miss his flight in Frankfurt,
Javier Milei
returned from the Forum Davos with the aim of taking
the lead in negotiations with the opposition for the omnibus law
.
With little rest and the effect of
jet lag
, the President secluded himself in the Quinta de Olivos and alternated hours of rest with a
first analysis
of what his team discussed with the heads of the Deputies block and this weekend he plans to
advance in definitions
to accelerate in the coming days the treatment of the key project for the implementation of the government:
"The number (of votes) is there, it will be approved
," an interlocutor of the president conveyed confidence.
Despite the fact that it had been speculated that the agreement could be closed even this Friday, due to the push that the ruling party had taken in Congress during the night of Thursday, with the summit led by the Minister of the Interior,
Guillermo Francos
, and the presidential advisor
Santiago Caputo
with the parliamentary leaders, in the Government the chips did not move while
waiting for Milei's word
: so much so that part of the requests made by the opposition were not included in the list of changes that circulated during the day.
More: in the Government they came out to detach themselves from the draft, which
included modifications but not enough to convince the opposition
, and clarified that not even that text had the approval of Milei, despite the fact that different voices agree that he sent it the head of the Chamber of Deputies,
Martín Menem
:
"Javier still couldn't see it,"
an unobjectionable source from the presidential environment
told
Clarín .
"This weekend we are going to move forward
," added that same voice.
Those who saw the head of state claim that
he "came back very tired"
from the tour.
Zero deficit is not negotiated
One of the central points of disagreement is the retirement reform, and the Government's intention to suspend mobility, the semi-annual update index of salaries.
Francos admitted this Friday that there are ''two or three alternatives'' being studied
to set the increases for retirees, and accepted, as circulated in the last few hours, that “leaving the formula as it is would be one” of those alternatives and the others They could be linked to “generating the update by some index”, such as inflation.
Strictly speaking, beyond the power that it gave to Francos and Caputo to land in the Deputies, given the new demands made by the opposition blocs to unblock the negotiation, the final version of the project will be written once it gives its endorsement and discusses with the Minister of Economy, Luis "Toto" Caputo, the fiscal impact that the concessions could have in his area: "The only thing that is not negotiated in any way is the zero deficit, the fiscal balance," the president often repeats.
With this premise, there was speculation about a day of frenetic meetings.
Before and after the usual press conference by spokesman
Manuel Adorni, the
possibility of a summit of the Milei small table at Quinta de Olivos
was considered
.
The early presence of one of the project's authors,
Federico Sturzenegger
, at Balcarce 50 fueled that expectation.
"He went to the Chief of Staff," explained an official source, although Nicolás Posse, also part of the delegation that traveled to Switzerland, had not yet arrived at his office.
Finally, late at night, from Casa Rosada they denied any meeting and detailed that, with Posse, the general secretary of the Presidency,
Karina Milei
- the two people most trusted by the head of state - "there was no meeting" at the presidential residence .
But there were
"bilaterals" between several of the Government's front-line officials
.
And after noon Menem himself passed by, who was in tandem with Francos.
As Clarín
recounted
, on his return from Switzerland, in an exchange he had from Zurich, Milei gave the go-ahead to access the changes demanded by the opposition, including the reduction of the term to one year, with the option of another with authorization from Congress. , the delegation of extraordinary powers, and a different withholding scheme, without affecting regional economies.
He had also agreed to remove YPF, Banco Nación and ARSAT from the list of 41 firms subject to privatization "with a single signature" of the Executive.
He
had not yet made a statement regarding retirements
and the request of the dialogue blocs to establish an update formula with a minimum floor, linked to inflation.
"On the weekend we will work and on Tuesday at the latest there will be a ruling: it will be law," enthused a close collaborator of the President.