The opposition hurled harsh criticisms against the government following the announcement on Thursday evening that President Javier Milei would file an emergency decree requesting Congress support his administration in a potential deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“This is a new institutional abuse,” socialist Deputy Esteban Paulón wrote in a post on X, pointing out that a decree is legally binding unless it is struck down by Congress. “The government is not requesting authorization. They dispense of this instance, sidestep Congress, and does whatever it wants (as always.)” 

Deputies Fernando Carbajal and Pablo Juliano from the Democracia para Siempre bloc were also critical of the decision. Carabajal accused the president of “choosing the bully route instead of the institutional one,” while Juliano called Milei “immoral.”

“Your decree means that the splurge of public spending will be financed by generations who not only did not vote for you, have not even been born yet,” Juliano wrote on X, adding that the move is “robbing future generations of their income.”

“A government that raises the debt based on decree can never be called liberal, and in the future will become a bad taste joke.”

Experts in constitutional law also chimed in. Attorney Felix Lonigro told Herald sister publication Ámbito that “a decree is binding from the moment it is published even if Congress doesn’t debate it.” He also highlighted the fact that current legislation demands that a decree be rejected by the Lower House and the Senate in order for it to be struck down. 

“The insane idea of the decrees,” he concluded. 

Financial analyst Christian Buteler also criticized the announcement, saying the executive order will not specify the new program’s conditions. He also challenged the government’s notion that a new deal would not imply incurring more debt. “If there are fresh funds, the foreign debt increases, even if the domestic debt is paid,” he said in an X post.

The IMF deal approval decree

Last week, Milei called for lawmakers’ support for the ongoing negotiations between the government and the IMF in his opening speech for the start of the legislative year — a 2021 law requires Congress to approve such loans.

The sudden decision on Thursday was a surprising turn of events since Milei had said he would send a bill for Congress to debate. Conversely, emergency decrees are law the moment the government issues them. Meant for exceptional circumstances such as war and the COVID-19 pandemic, they can be only repealed if both houses vote against them.

The government communiqué announcing the decree echoed Milei’s Congress speech by saying that the agreement would imply a “reduction of the total public debt,” as it would be used to pay Argentina’s National Treasury’s debt with the Central Bank. That means, however, that the Argentine state would be converting the debt it has with itself into new debt with an international financial agency.

With information from Ámbito