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🇦🇷 Argentina /Elections & Politics

Government admits blocking opposition session will be difficult as it seeks to impose its own agenda

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Unnamed sources Ongoing story
  • Argentina’s government expects the opposition to secure the quorum needed to hold a congressional session on household debt and disability emergency measures.
  • Officials are preparing to promote the government’s own bills if they cannot stop the session, while estimating the opposition may have about 131 votes.
  • Government figures described the opposition’s initiative as a political show and said they were coordinating with opposition blocs and governors.

The government had nearly resigned itself to the opposition securing a quorum for Wednesday’s session, which will address two sensitive issues: rising household debt and arrears, and an extension of the disability emergency that expires at the end of the year.

They are close, but they appear to have the numbers. I do not know if there is much chance of stopping it.

· Unnamed Casa Rosada officialThe official assessed the opposition’s chances of gathering the quorum for the session.

Officials at the Casa Rosada acknowledged that their effort to prevent the session from taking place looked “difficult, almost impossible,” despite talks with opposition groups, including several governors and more conciliatory blocs. “They are close, but they appear to have the numbers. I do not know if there is much chance of stopping it,” one official said.

The opposition was believed to need 131 votes to open the session. Another government source said every opposition member would have to attend for the effort to succeed, but added that this was difficult rather than impossible. By late Tuesday, some officials had not ruled out the government’s own La Libertad Avanza bloc attending to provide the quorum.

None of them can drop out. They all have to be there. It is not easy, but it is not impossible either.

· Unnamed government sourceThe source discussed the attendance the opposition would need to open the session.

The government’s immediate objective remained to derail the session. But officials were also preparing a second plan: if lawmakers moved ahead, they would try to impose their own proposals on both issues. They argued that the opposition’s demands had already been addressed, pointing to numerous bills on household arrears and a court ruling on disability funding that they said the government was implementing.

There are several scenarios. Obviously, the first is to stop the session.

· Unnamed government officialsOfficials described the government’s initial strategy and its fallback plan.

Chief of Cabinet Diego Santilli, Chamber of Deputies President Martín Menem and Institutional Management Undersecretary Eduardo “Lule” Menem were identified as the main contacts with the opposition and the officials responsible for shaping the legislative strategy. They joined Santilli’s deputy, Ignacio Devitt, at a political meeting in the Casa Rosada, where the legislative agenda was discussed. Government officials characterized the opposition’s decision to advance both issues as a “political show.”

What the opposition is asking for has already been done.

· Unnamed government officialsThe government defended its position on household arrears and disability funding.
About this summary

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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