MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei calls for extraordinary sessions of Congress

This is what Milei had in mind when he said there was more coming up

Argentine President Javier Milei issued a decree on Friday calling for extraordinary sessions of Congress between Dec. 26, 2023, and Jan. 31, 2024, to deal with urgent matters. The head of state said earlier this week that “the crisis requires immediate action.” According to the Constitution, during the legislative recess (from Dec. 1 to the last day of February), Congress can only deal with issues specified in the presidential decree calling for extraordinary sessions.

Cabinet chief Nicolás Posse sent a note to Vice President Victoria Villarruel attaching Milei's decree so that she, as president of the Senate, could take the necessary measures.

The 11-item document includes the “Bill for the Reform of the Functions of the State,” the “Single Paper Ballot,” the “Personal Income Tax Law,” the “Bill requesting the authorization for the President of the Nation to be absent from the country during the year 2024 if governmental reasons so require,” and a list of international trade agreements to prevent double taxation and other measures with Japan, Luxembourg, China, the United Arab Emirates and Türkiye, as well as the “Consideration of International Treaties, Conventions and Agreements” and the “Consideration of Agreements for Appointments and Promotions and their Retirement” within the Armed Forces.

The package of bills already drafted by the executive is expected to be sent next week.

The new measure comes on the heels of Milei's sweeping emergency decree (DNU) aimed at deregulating most aspects of the country's economy, which has sparked reactions from both political ends of the citizenry: some welcomed the initiative, while others want it repealed either in Congress or by the courts.

Milei's bills to Congress are a follow-up to the DNU on matters that the executive cannot decide, it was also reported in Buenos Aires on Friday. The projects will have to go through several congressional committees before they can be debated in either house, it was also explained.

After signing the DNU, Milei said there was more to come. Casa Rosada sources quoted by local media said this was what he had in mind.

On Thursday, Interior Minister Guillermo Francos met with lawmakers from Milei's La Libertad Avanza to work on defending the DNU before the bicameral commission that must now review it, and also to brief them on the contents of the so-called “omnibus” bill.