Senate showdown: Bullrich drops Hojarasca bill as lawmakers prepare to approve judicial nominees linked to ‘Chiqui’ Tapia

Patricia Bullrich had to pull the Hojarasca bill from the Senate again, but the ruling party reached an agreement with allied blocs to call a session for next Thursday. The agenda will include two judicial nominations linked to Argentine Football Association president Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, as well as the new Biofuels Law, a priority for provinces in northern Argentina.

The session will be formally called at a parliamentary labor meeting on Wednesday at 2 p.m. Block leaders will set the final agenda, which is also expected to include agreements transferring justice functions to the city of Buenos Aires. At the same time, the government will seek a committee report on a reform of the Central Bank’s charter, with Central Bank President Santiago Bausili and Vice President Vladimir Werning attending.

Bullrich had hoped to turn Federico Sturzenegger’s Hojarasca proposal into law. The bill, which passed the lower house in May, would repeal or amend about 70 laws considered obsolete by the minister for deregulation. But the initiative again failed to clear the Senate filter and was withdrawn at a meeting of the Radical Civic Union bloc on Tuesday.

The government does have enough votes for the nominations of Alejandro Javier Catania and Juan Pedro Galván Greenway to the economic criminal courts. Their candidacies had been held up by the Casa Rosada after reports that they had worked on cases connected to Tapia. The nomination of Juan Manuel Mejuto remained outside the package after reports that he had signed the first statement by the far-left group Justicia Legítima. His committee report exists, but the ruling party has kept the nomination stalled.

The biofuels bill reaches the Senate with its outcome unresolved. Senators from northern provinces disagree with lawmakers from central provinces because the measure affects small and medium-sized businesses. The bill would gradually reduce the protected share held by so-called non-integrated producers in the domestic market and open competition to large agricultural exporters. The Senate will also begin committee work on Fiscal Innocence II, which already passed the lower house and could receive a committee report with support from the government and its allies.