Since Tuesday, the members of the General Legislation, Constitutional Affairs and Budget and Finance groups have been debating the so-called Omnibus Law with the participation of members of President Javier Milei’s Cabinet.

During the exchanges, the deputy for the Unión por la Patria (UP) alliance Leopoldo Moreau questioned the bill called “Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines” and warned about the intentions of “imposing a State of Exception”: “They want to put themselves above the constitutional norms. They are reforming the Penal Code because they need the instruments to silence social protest and violate the principles and guarantees of citizens,” he asserted, and affirmed that his bloc “is willing to discuss, but not to give up power that the people gave to the Argentine parliament.”

He also denounced that the package of laws, which includes aspects of the Decree of Necessity and Urgency 70/2023 (DNU) which repeals or modifies more than 300 regulations, does away with historical rights and reforms articles of the Constitution, underlying codes that form part of basic consensus that sustains democracy.

The president of the UP bloc, Germán Martínez, demanded the participation in the analyzes of the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, the Chief of Staff, Gustavo Posse, and the presidential advisor Federico Sturzenegger, who is credited with writing the DNU.

Caputo announced on Wednesday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a disbursement of $4.65 billion, which will be used to pay capital maturities for December, January and April. He also stated that, if the Omnibus Law is not approved in Congress, “it would be very bad news that would determine the implementation of harsher measures.” He went on to state that the IMF “is open to talks” for a new loan, but the Government for now rules out that possibility.

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