Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni confirmed late Thursday evening that the government will call for extraordinary sessions of Congress between December 5 and 27. 

The agenda for those sessions has six topics, including the elimination of mandatory primaries and lowering state funding for political parties, but does not include the national budget nor the anti-graft initiative known as Ficha Limpia. The exclusion is noteworthy as both were issues the opposition was requesting be discussed.

While President Milei made the unprecedented move of presenting his proposed 2025 budget in front of Congress last September, the government does not appear to be worried over legislative approval. The opposition claims that the intended goal of this maneuver is so that the government can oversee discretionary spending without Congressional oversight.

In an interview last October, Milei said that if it was “a problem of Congress” if the budget was not debated and approved. He added that if that were to be the case, he would simply reextend the 2023 budget via a presidential decree. 

As a reminder, the outgoing Alberto Fernández administration filed a 2024 budget bill in September of last year, but it was never debated nor voted on. At the end of December, Milei issued a decree to renew the 2023 budget, in line with the financial administration law.

The anti-graft initiative is high on the list of PRO, the main ally of ruling coalition La Libertad Avanza (LLA) in Congress. However, the failure of Ficha Limpia last week — which would prevent people convicted of corruption by two separate courts from running for office — has sparked a bitter disagreement between the two. While the PRO party accused the government of “playing in favor of the corrupt,” the libertarians called their ally’s stance “opportunistic.” 

The full list of items set to be debated also includes the authorization of presidential travel, the possibility of allowing trials in absentia, an “anti-mafia” bill looking to increase prison time for members of criminal organizations, and an initiative aimed at reducing the immunity deputies and senators , which allow them to avoid serving jail time until their convictions are confirmed. 

The two most important goals for the government are the electoral reform, i.e. the elimination of the national and mandatory primaries known as PASO, and the reduction of state funding for political parties. The reasoning for pushing this agenda is economic, as the government claims that they are a heavy burden for the state coffers. In the case of the latter, the Milei administration intends to open the doors to private funding for candidates and parties. 

The Milei administration has already managed to get one electoral reform through Congress. Both houses have already approved the use of a single-paper ballot for national elections. The move means that starting with next year’s legislative elections, instead of placing individual ballots for each party, Argentines will cast just one with all their favored candidates.