BarcelonaThe president of Argentina, Javier Milei, has sent to the country’s Parliament a bill declaring a “public emergency” and which will allow him to take decisions without the need for legislative approval. The so-called “bases and starting points for the freedom of Argentines” bill declares a public emergency until December 31, 2025, a term that can be extended by the executive for two more years, that is to say, until the end of Milei’s term.
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The new project, which must be approved by Congress, will affect almost all areas of Argentina’s economy, politics and society and will allow legislative powers to be delegated to the executive branch. It would also allow street protests to be punished with prison terms. The congressional vote is uncertain, because Milei’s far-right formation, La Llibertat Avança, has minimal legislative representation, but it has as an ally a large part of the center-right front Junts pel Canvi, with a strong weight in both chambers of Congress .
The National Constitution of Argentina, last reformed in 1994, prohibits in article 76 the legislative delegation in the executive power, “except for certain matters of administration or public emergency, with a fixed term for its exercise and within the bases of the delegation that Congress establishes”.
The Milei government claims that it promotes this law “with the spirit of restoring the economic and social order based on the liberal doctrine embodied in the National Constitution of 1853” and “in the name of the May Revolution of 1810 and in defense of life, liberty and property of Argentines”. In the message to send the initiative to Parliament, signed by Milei and his cabinet of ministers, the government states that its objective is to “undertake, immediately and with suitable instruments, the fight against the adverse factors that attack the freedom of Argentines ; which prevent the proper functioning of the market economy and which are the cause of the impoverishment of the nation”.
The bill comes a week after the controversial decree of necessity and urgency (DNU) approved by Milei and which will enter into force this Friday, with more than 300 reforms. A decree that had brought thousands of people out into the streets in protest just this Wednesday, the same day that Milei was sending this new macro-project to Congress.
2023-12-28 10:44:10
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