PRO and LLA can ‘work together at parliamentary level’ — Menem

The lower house president’s comments come as the Milei administration prepares for a reshuffle following the omnibus bill’s collapse

Martín Menem, president of Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies, said on Tuesday morning that there is a “confluence of ideas” between the La Libertad Avanza (LLA) bloc and Propuesta Republicana (PRO), meaning the parties “can work together at the parliamentary level.”

Menem highlighted that PRO had supported Milei’s omnibus bill reform package. “There are coincidences, and we will see how to proceed as time goes on,” he said in an interview with Radio Mitre.

Parliamentary cooperation could take the form of an inter-bloc, a unified bloc, or another format, he added.

Over the past week, Milei and senior figures including Security Minister Patricia Bullrich have suggested that LLA and PRO could form a coalition. Milei said last week that his administration “would definitely explore” the alliance.

PRO, which Bullrich leads, is one of the main parties that made up the Juntos por el Cambio coalition, together with the UCR and smaller parties such as CC-ARI. It was the ruling coalition during Mauricio Macri’s 2015-2019 presidency and the main opposition during the Alberto Fernández government.

However, the alliance crumbled during last year’s elections amid disagreements about whether to back Milei in the presidential run-off. 

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The talks come as the Milei government prepares for a reshuffle after discussions to pass the omnibus bill fell apart in Congress last week. The president returned to Argentina early on Tuesday morning after a tour of Israel, Italy and the Vatican.

A coalition between PRO and LLA would formalize and extend the alliance that already exists in practice: all the party’s deputies voted to pass Milei’s omnibus bill reform package in general terms on Friday, although support was patchier on Tuesday. 

“Beyond the name, votes are counted one by one,” Menem said in Tuesday’s interview. “I see the possibility of working together. The title will be defined by the President.”

Mega-decree

The lower house leader also addressed Milei’s mega-decree. Like the omnibus bill, the decree establishes the broad deregulation of Argentina’s economy, including labor reform, and the elimination of state regulation on everything from supermarkets and rent to credit cards. 

It is currently in force and would only be overturned in congress if both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate vote it down. However, progress towards debating the decree has been delayed by disputes over the makeup of the congressional commission that must debate it before it reaches the floor of either chamber.

The judiciary can also tackle the decree, and several organizations have also filed lawsuits against the decree. In late January, a labor court ruled that all the decree’s labor articles were unconstitutional.

Menem recognized lawmakers’ demands for the creation of a two-chamber committee to analyze Milei’s mega-decree, but asked why UCR legislators waited until now to speak.

On Monday, UCR deputies and senators demanded that Menem urgently appoint representatives to the Permanent Bicameral Committee to address the government’s decree.

You may also be interested in: What does Milei’s massive presidential decree actually say?

“The decision not to appoint Chamber of Deputies representatives constitutes an unconstitutional omission that undermines the separation of powers and the republican form of government,” the UCR wrote in a statement signed, among others, by the National Committee President, Senator Martín Lousteau, and the head of the UCR deputies’ bloc, Rodrigo De Loredo.

In response, Menem said: “The bicameral [committee] will surely be constituted and will start working,” adding: “We have had other obligations during this time, and also there was no agreement in the [Peronist opposition] Unión por la Patria bloc, which has to send three names. They have sent four, and I have reiterated this to the bloc leader several times.”

He also accused lawmakers of selective amnesia, pointing out that several of ex-President Alberto Fernández’s decrees were never discussed in the commission.

“The lukewarm individuals from 2015 who prevented [former President Mauricio] Macri from having a successful government are the same ones now proposing the same way to hinder the true transformation that Argentina needs,” Menem concluded. 

“We need to define ourselves here. When there are lukewarm individuals in the middle, Kirchnerism returns.”

-Télam/Herald

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