MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei extends Congress' extraordinary sessions for a fortnight

Lower House Speaker Martín Menem was reported to have achieved some progress in private dealings with opposition lawmakers

Argentine President Javier Milei Friday signed a decree extending the extraordinary sessions of Congress until Feb. 15 to further discuss the so-called Omnibus Law bill sent by the Executive late last year providing for a series of major reforms to the country's administration in a move to curb government spending.

Milei had first called for extraordinary sessions from Dec. 26, 2023, to Jan. 31, 2024, to debate an 11-item agenda, most notably the “Bill of Bases and Points of Departure for the Freedom of Argentines” as the Omnibus Law is officially known.

That package includes those aspects that were not fit due to their nature or matter to be penned into Milei's shocking emergency decree (DNU) pointing in the same direction toward fiscal balance, which is already in force since Dec. 29 pending a review by a Congressional bicameral commission or by the Judiciary.

In his latest decree, Milei also instructed the Legislative to discuss the authorization of entry of foreign troops as well as a modification to the Penal Code regarding the prevention and repression of money laundering, financing of both terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Milei's government is now facing the final stretch of negotiations with several opposition blocks to ensure that the country's Chamber of Deputies debates the Executive's flagship bill next week. The Libertarian administration has been reported to have acquiesced to some changes in some of the 664 articles of the norm.

The Executive plans to work this weekend to make sure the issues are debated in the Lower House before next Wednesday's general strike called for by the General Labor Confederation (CGT) to protest against Milei's reforms.

The President's latest measure stems from the fact that Lower House procedural rules require all decisions signed 10 days before the end of the period in which the Congress is authorized to operate.

Libertarian Lower House Speaker Martín Menem was reported to have achieved some progress in private dealings with opposition lawmakers to achieve a positive outcome by giving in to some of their demands.