President Milei’s administration suffered a huge setback yesterday as Senate, in an unprecedented action in 40 years of democracy, rejected the 70/2023 Decree of Necessity and Urgency that intends to modify and repeal dozens of laws and which will now be debated in the Lower Chamber of Deputies.
In the session led by Vice-president Victoria Villarruel, within the frame of a tense relationship with President Javier Milei, the decree was rejected by 42 votes and supported by 25 Senators, with four abstentions.
The Senators who rejected the decree belong to the blocks of Unión por la Patria (UxP); UCR president Martín Lousteau; Santa Cruz Senators José María Carambia and Natalia Gadano, dissenting Peronists Camau Espínola and Edgardo Kueider and Neuquen Senator Lucila Crexell, among others, while the abstentions came from the block of PJ Córdoba.
Despite being rejected by Senate, the decree is still in force, since both Chambers need to reject it for it to be repealed, so now the Lower Chamber of Deputies will decide.
The session
Before the vote, block chief for La Libertad Avanza (LLA), Ezequiel Atauche, defended the decree saying “there is no room for lukewarm people. Argentina is in a state of emergency and we need to prove that we are ready to change”. Then, he asked “Congress to let us govern and be aware that Argentina needs to change for the sake of all”.
In turn, chief block for Unión por la Patria (UXP), José Mayans, explained his block’s vote: “We are going to vote against it and we ask the President to send the content of the decree as proposed bills. We ask him not to close the Congress, not to insult us and to be respectful of the members of Congress”.
“We will formally request the decree to be declared non valid. We are voting in this direction. The decree is not valid because it takes attributions of the Legislative Power”, said Mayans.
Meanwhile, the UCR block did not vote in unanimity: UCR president Lousteau voted against the decree and, in order to explain his stance, he emphasized that the decree is “unconstitutional and illegal”.
Another UCR Senator who voted against the decree was Tierra del Fuego Senator Pablo Blanco, who said that he was pressured by business sectors of his province to vote in favor.
UXP Senator Mariano Recalde said that the decree, “apart from being absolutely unconstitutional, it proves that the President lied during his election campaign”.
“We know how this story goes, when those in power accumulate wealth and poverty grows”, said Recalde.
In favor of the decree, PRO Senator Luis Juez said: “If the decree is repealed, what are going to celebrate? Our intention was to give the Government some time to make dialogue possible again, but our intolerance prevented that from happening”.
The mega-reform decree was debated yesterday in Senate, after La Libertad Avanza failed to delay the session for another 20 days.
The debate took place amid tensions between President Javier Milei and Vice-president Victoria Villarruel.
Before the session, Home Secretary Guillermo Francos said that if the decree was rejected, the Government “won’t sit back and do nothing”, and he said he is confident that the Lower Chamber of Deputies “won’t reject it”.
Regarding the Vice-president, Francos said to Radio Rivadavia: “I don’t see hidden motives. Perhaps it was a mistake to yield to pressure, nothing more than that”.
In turn, presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said in his daily press conference that “it will be in each Senator’s conscience to vote against or in favor of giving Argentines more freedoms or to take responsibility for being the first Senators in history to vote against a presidential decree”. He also minimized the alleged tensions between Milei and Villarruel.