(Buenos Aires) Argentina’s ultraliberal President Javier Milei announced this week the modification or repeal by decree of more than 300 norms and laws, in what constitutes a project as ambitious as it is controversial aimed at massively deregulating the country’s economy.
In Argentine history, never before has a change as radical and vast as the one he intends to impose with his “chainsaw”, which has become the symbol of his determination to dismantle the State, been carried out.
This happened neither under successive democratic governments, whatever their political color, nor under dictatorships which ravaged the country, rich in natural resources and a major exporter of foodstuffs, but today immersed in a deep crisis with inflation of more than 160% over one year.
What can the decree change in everyday life?
The “emergency decree” signed by Milei ten days after taking office, and on the eve of Christmas, provides for the repeal of the law governing rents or that which attempted to curb speculation in large-scale distribution, while the prices of basic necessities continue to rise.
Also gone are the regulations protecting workers with a trial period increasing from three to eight months, the modification in favor of companies of compensation schemes for dismissal without cause or the renegotiation of collective agreements in force since 1975.
Public companies such as the airline Aerolineas Argentinas or the oil group YPF could be privatized. The decree also amends the company law so that football clubs can transform into limited companies.
Banks will be able to charge unlimited interest rates for late payments, while a large part of the population is in debt.
What is the objective of the decree?
“The objective is to begin the path towards rebuilding the country, returning freedom and autonomy to individuals and beginning to disarm the enormous amount of regulations that have held back, hindered and prevented economic growth in our country,” Milei assured Wednesday, announcing the signing of the decree.
PHOTO CRISTINA SILLE, REUTERS
The new measures announced by Milei were poorly received by part of the population who took to the streets to show their disagreement.
“There may be people who suffer from Stockholm syndrome. They are in love with the model that impoverishes them,” Milei reacted to the protests sparked by his decree, which also plans to limit the right to strike, enshrined in the Argentine Constitution.
Is this decree constitutional?
“What the Constitution and the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Justice say is that in principle laws cannot be modified by decree and the president cannot replace Parliament,” Emiliano Vitaliani explains to AFP , constitutional lawyer.
The decree must still pass through Parliament, where Milei’s party is in the minority.
German Martinez, head of the opposition “Union por la Patria” party, called on Milei to call extraordinary parliamentary sessions instead of governing by decree. “Send the reforms in the form of bills. Don’t be afraid of democratic debate.”
For political scientist Lara Goyburu, the signing of this decree “circumvents all limits” and intervenes “in many areas which require political agreements between parliament and the provinces”.
Can the decree be postponed?
For this emergency decree to be invalidated, both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate would have to reject it. Otherwise, it will come into force on December 29, explains Mr. Vitalini.
For constitutional lawyer Alejandro Carrio, its main drawback remains that Parliament must approve or reject it in its entirety.
“The president has made a very big bet, whose success will depend on his ability to obtain legislative support which, until now, is not known,” he wrote in a column in the newspaper La Nacion.
The other means of annulling the decree would be through legal action. The General Confederation of Labor in particular is studying this possibility.