Argentina: Javier Milei calls Congress to extraordinary sessions to discuss reforms

The government of Argentina called Parliament to extraordinary sessions to discuss a package of laws to reform the State and a controversial megadecree with a broad deregulation of the economyaccording to the call that bears the signature of the ultraliberal president Javier Milei.

The president made the call on Friday night so that the Congress begin extraordinary sessions from December 26 to January 31, after a week of protests of unions, tenants and left-wing parties against the reforms contained in a decree that must be endorsed by Congress.

On the agenda of the extraordinary sessions, the president also included initiatives for the restitution of taxes on salaries, modifications to the electoral law and State reforms.

However, the main dish is contained in the megadecree with more than 300 reforms that will change the daily lives of Argentines.

Among other modifications, the decree repeals the rental law, which will be without a period, without price caps, and in any currency.

It also extends the employment trial period from three to eight months, eliminates protections for workers and laws that protect consumers from abusive price increases, when inflation exceeds 160% annually and poverty exceeds 40%.

It also releases banking commissions and the punitive rate for debts, eliminates the law that established regular increases in retirements and pensions, releases private medical fees and opens the doors to the privatization of public companies.

The “chainsaw” plan Javier Milei to cut state spending, sparked the first street protests last week with “banging on pots and pans” against the government in front of the Congress and in squares and corners of the country’s main cities, without major incidents.

It also provoked a call from the labor confederations for a demonstration next Wednesday in front of the courts to submit to the courts a request to challenge the decree on the grounds that it is unconstitutional and an injunction to suspend all its effects.

He Congress has ten days to endorse or reject the decree in its entirety without being able to open the details of its content to discussion, according to the regulations for the treatment of decrees of necessity and urgency.

The decree is approved by a simple majority and will come into force anyway on December 29 if it is not dealt with within the established period. On the other hand, to invalidate it, both chambers must reject it.

The president’s party, Freedom Advances (far-right), has 40 of the 257 deputies and seven of 72 senators, while the now opposition Peronism retains the first minority in both chambers.