Although the Senate session had less fanfare, after the day in which Deputies ratified Javier Milei’s veto to the increase for retireeshad a historical fact that will make it a source of revision in the future. There was also correspondence in its conception, with comings and goings of wills at the last minute and with a strong influence of public opinion, in this case expressed more through social networks than through street protests.
To strengthen the university budget, an initiative that began to take shape since the University March on April 24the electoral reform of the Single Paper Ballot (BUP)However, something unprecedented occurred in national democracy. For the first time since 1994, when the constituents outlined the legislation on the DNUs, Congress repealed a Decree of Necessity and Urgency. In this case, which determined a sum of $100,000 million of funds reserved for the State Intelligence Service (SIDE)In both cases, last-minute arrangements guaranteed the majorities.
About the BUP, the wills of Chubut native Edith Terenzi and Rio Negro native Monica Silva They ended up adapting to the electoral model supported by the government, whose approval was a consolation for contributing to its refoundational narrative (in this case, very specific, by establishing a new voting modality that all voters could perceive from next year) and that isolated Peronism againa historical opponent of this proposal. It will have to be voted on Deputieswhere there would be no problems in approving it and new reforms could be included for 2025.
The process that led to the repeal of Decree 656/2024: the Government’s negotiations – which included a New meeting of Javier Milei at Casa Rosada– they twisted the intentions of the radicals, who were doing the math to analyze the possibility of not providing a quorum. However, the public repercussion caused by the photo of five deputies of their party with the President changed their plan. “It was serious and the bloc realized it, because the deputies were directly buttoned up by Milei and then they voted as they voted”he said to Scope a radical referent from the Senate, who added: “We knew that more eyes were on us.”
Plan B devised by the government, and implemented until midnight on Wednesday, was remove the discussion of the DNU from the agenda and replace it with a secret session -an unprecedented experience in this century- to detail the destination of SIDE funds to legislators. Peronism opposedwarning that he would hold a press conference to disclose the information, which he considers public, and that he would insist on a vote on the matter at the session. There, doubts arose about supporting radicalism.
“It was circulating that we would not vote on university funding either, so the insults began on social media: from FUBA, from Franja Morada, from everyone”they specified regarding the same publications that request the removal of the five UCR deputies, an internal process that has already begun. Finally, in an internal vote that ended 11-3, the radical senators decided to deal with the decree on the SIDE and supported the Peronist request.
The future that opens after the session
“I don’t know how much the veto on retirees impacted Milei’s image; let’s hope he doesn’t do it again,” said Peronists, who observed how the mobilization in front of Congress diminished on Thursday and made the president dispensable. Fifty federal police officers waited for hours at the door of the Provincial Hall, just a few metres from where the vote was taking place. The radical view is different: “I doubt the President will veto another law in such a short time.especially with such important issues as public universities and pensions.”
The possibility of a veto is being analyzed by the two majority blocks in the Senate, which do not doubt their ability to coordinate to obtain the two-thirds. The vote was a direct precedent and they point to the meeting they had Di Tullio, Abad and De Pedro with 20 rectors from Buenos Aireswith which they committed to achieving budgetary relief.
They are also waiting for the presentation of the Budget 2025which the President himself will do on Sunday at 9 pm, with the presence of allied deputies confirmed. “I do not understand how he can always change the rules: that has to be done by the Chief of Staff. But Milei prefers the show”say provincialist opponents. Peronism is skeptical: “We understand that it will be a terrible budget but we want it to have one… will have to be more flexible, otherwise it will be difficult”.
José Mayans Juliana Di Tullio Union for the Homeland Senate
Ignacio Petunchi
Beyond the closeness to the officialism of some of his coreligionists, Martin Lousteau is one of those who most looks forward to the project. “He will have a high profile in the Budget discussion, and he will be thorough“, they say from his entourage. The core proposal for all the other laws, which would be accompanied by a presidential announcement of tax flexibility, will concentrate the remainder of the legislative year.; a 2024 where every month a session makes history.
Source: Ambito
