The Argentine Senate approved the legislative package on June 13 with the reforms of President Javier Millay, known as the Basic Law (Lay de Bases), with the decisive vote of Vice President Victoria Villarreal. The much-controversial proposal, along with a fiscal package, will now be returned for a vote in the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives, which gave its initial approval back in April.
Although there is no confirmed date for the next session yet, it is expected to take place next week.
The government has made major concessions and changed several sections of its flagship proposals to gain more support in the upper house, particularly on pensions and privatisation.
Once the Chamber of Deputies gives its final approval, as expected, Millay will be given legislative powers over administrative, economic, financial and energy matters for a year. The text also foresees the introduction of a state of emergency on these topics during this period
Javier Millay will have the right to close or restructure public organizations. So far, institutions related to science and technology are not threatened, as are those in the field of culture, including the National Institute of Cinema (INCAA).
Other institutions not threatened are the National Genetic Database, the National Park Service, the National Weather Service, and the National Health and Agri-Food Service (SENASA). The executive branch is also prohibited from taking over the National Atomic Energy Commission, notes the "Buenos Aires Herald".
Labour reform
The proposed labor reform raises the probationary period from three to six months, allowing the smallest companies to extend it up to one year. It also allows employers to replace severance pay with a "redundancy fund" that will come from employees' wages and be paid to them in the event they are fired.
Pensions
The main change compared to the original text is the part about pensions. Senators removed a member that would have ended the 2023 pension moratorium, which currently allows people to access a state pension by paying for missing years of Social Security contributions. If the House of Commons passes this change, the allowance will remain in place.
Privatizations
Privatizations were the stumbling block when the bill failed in February and many company names were removed from the list. The Senate took out "Aerolineas Argentinas" (Aerolíneas Argentinas), the postal company "Correo Argentino" (Correo Argentino) and Argentine Radio and Television from the list of public companies to be privatized. However, the energy supplier "Energia Argentina" (Energía Argentina) and "Intercargo" (Intercargo) a company that provides baggage handling services at airports - will still be fully privatized, while others, such as the water supply company AYSA and the train operator Trenes Argentinos. (Trenes Argentinos), will be concessioned.
A few days ago, the presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said that the government will insist on the privatization of the companies removed from the list. "All public companies are subject to privatization," he said, referring to the presidential mega-decree that turned them into limited liability companies in December, the first step toward privatization. "We'll see if it happens now or in the future. The lower house will decide that," he added.
Large investments
The Large Investment Incentive Framework will provide tax breaks to companies looking to invest over US$200 million in Argentina. They will be exempt from national and local taxes and will be allowed to import goods without paying duties.
Senators also introduced some changes to the text to protect and promote local producers and the employment of Argentines after criticism of how the framework would favor imports and foreign capital at the expense of the nation's small and medium-sized companies.
While the reform package was being debated in the Senate, thousands of people protested in the streets of Buenos Aires against the government's proposed privatizations and what they saw as the beginning of the destruction of the state sector. There were heavy clashes between demonstrators and security forces in riot gear who responded to the throwing of Molotov cocktails and rocks with tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets. About thirty people were injured and more than twenty arrested. Three policemen were also injured. In a statement, the government congratulated police forces for their effective response to what it called an "attempted coup, an attack on the normal functioning of the Congress of the Argentine Nation".
On the occasion of the first six months of Millay's presidential term "Walla" (Wola), the organization that deals with the protection of human rights in North and South America, has taken stock of the socio-economic situation in the country and the impact of the measures implemented so far by the government, writes the Italian edition "Internationale". Argentina's president introduced an austerity plan to fight inflation, devalued the national currency, the peso, cut ministries and government subsidies for transport, gasoline and pensions. These measures had a serious impact on the population, both from the lower strata of society and the middle class. In just a few months, the purchasing power of citizens has decreased by more than 20 percent, and the prices of food and medicine have risen.
Currently, poverty affects 55 percent of the population, and extreme poverty - 18 percent. Unemployment has also risen, with major cuts in public education and the science and culture sectors. As if this were not enough, the ultra-liberal leader's government spreads anti-democratic values not only through its policies, but also with continuous attacks on its opponents, on all people who criticize it, the media, feminist and environmental associations, according to the organization's assessment. "Walla" invites the international community to look at the economic situation in Argentina without ignoring the state of democracy and the deterioration of human rights in the country.