The meeting to form the bicameral commission of Legislative Procedure, which must issue an opinion on the legality of the Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) signed by
Javier Milei
, took place in a tense atmosphere of
shouts and accusations
that prevented reaching a agreement on the distribution of authorities.
The ruling party was able to impose its number and with the support of the representatives of the dialogue blocs managed to place the presidency of the bicameral in the hands of the senator of
La Libertad Avanza
(LLA) Juan Carlos Pagotto, a lawyer who was questioned by some sectors for having defended those accused of crimes against humanity.
The Riojan, however, garnered 10 votes in favor that corresponded to the allied senators Luis Juez and Juan Carlos Romero along with the radical Víctor Zimmermann, and the dissident Peronist Carlos Espínola.
While for Deputies, the libertarians Oscar Zago and Lisandro Almirón, Hernán Lombardi (PRO), Nicolás Massot (We Make the Federal Coalition) and Francisco Monti (UCR) supported his nomination.
However, La Libertad Avanza and the dialogueists could not advance in the appointment of the vice president, a position for which Lombardi had been proposed, nor for secretary, for which Zimmermann from Chaco was nominated, as part of the agreement between the different spaces.
It was not clear whether, in the end, there was no consensus between the different sectors or whether a recommendation from Massot ended up taking precedence, asking that the representations be respected, since the Unión por la Patria bloc had been marginalized from the distribution of authorities.
For this reason, it is estimated that the vice presidency and the secretariat will be completed next Thursday when the commission meets again.
The meeting was crossed from the beginning when Juan Carlos Romero from Salta wanted to speed up the appointment of the commission's authorities and Carolina Gaillard from Entre Ríos put a stop to it by warning that they were going to present two reservations: one was linked to the distribution of the places , since Kirchnerism asked for 4 chairs for each Chamber and they only assigned 3 for each body.
Teresa González from Formosa and the campers Mariano Recalde and Anabel Fernández Sagasti, for the Senate;
and Vanesa Siley and Ramiro Gutiérrez, for Deputies.
The other reservation was linked to the expiration of the deadlines for the commission's treatment and, for this reason, they insisted with the request for the DNU to be discussed in the chamber.
It is worth clarifying that with the approval of one of the two chambers it remains in force.
But Gaillard, who chaired the Impeachment Commission in the process initiated against the Supreme Court, took advantage of the bicameral scenario and shouted that
Union for the Homeland
was being
"robbed of a deputy and a senator"
in the composition of the commission.
He not only questioned the validity of the composition since the representation of the chambers was not respected, but he even warned that the DNU could be declared null.
In the midst of the shouting, Germán Martínez, the head of the Unión por la Patria block of deputies, also intervened, warning the ruling party that the composition is "arbitrary in number," but he also warned them that they were going to "add one more, the designation of the authorities".
"We are not going to participate in any vote by the authorities of this DNU Bicameral, because they are clearly violating the popular representativeness of our blocks," replied Camportista Anabel Fernández Sagasti.
Zimmemann tried to calm the waters by lowering his nomination to the commission secretary and offering that place to the Ks, but the offer was rejected by Fernández Sagasti, who responded that the problem was one of representation, not positions.
For this reason, after the catharsis of the representatives of Unión por la Patria, the vote was taken, but the ruling party could only achieve the confirmation of Pagotto as head of the bicameral.
But there was time for one more crossing, almost at the close, Senator José Mayans accused the ruling party and allies of violating the Constitution for not discussing DNU 70/2023 on the premises.
Quick on reflexes, Lomardi came out to answer him.
"If we are violating the Constitution, you are serial violators" for the more than 100 decrees that were pending from the administration of Alberto Fernández.