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the chainsaw plan of jav's libertarian
government is underway the new president
has taken office with the clear
intention of reforming Argentina no
gradualism or waiting periods the
changes are already
underway in the closing days of 2023 on
the 20th of December the government of
President Javier guerard mle published
decree 70 2023 a decree that emerged as
a matter of urgency and with which
overnight more than 300 economic and
administrative regulations were repealed
and modified all at once we are talking
about one of the most exciting political
adventures in Argentine
history and so on Christmas Eve mle's
gift to the argentines was to set in
motion the demolition of a large part of
the socioeconomic system of the land of
the GAO because to the Urgent decree we
have to add the so-called Omnibus
law we are talking about a document that
the Argentine government sent to
congress with more than 180 pages and
664 articles a document that was created
with the idea that the legislature
recognizes the government's ability to
directly enact a lot of changes given
the public emergency situation that the
country is going through a pretension
that of course has raised a lot of
criticism among the opposition if we
take into account both the initial
decree and the Omnibus law we are
talking about a massive process of
economic liberalization that was
introduced when the Argentine president
had not even been in power for a month
let's just say rather than the chainsaw
plan it could almost be better known as
a turbos saw plan even so this has
caused us at visual politic to ask
ourselves a few questions how broad is
this transformation plan land really
what exactly could it mean for Argentina
what position are the unions and the
opposition taking we will see all this
and more in this video so you know how
it goes fire up your engines let's get
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started first of all in order to
understand the true scope and depth of
the measures taken by Javier mle we have
to go through some legal concepts of the
country you see what the Libertarian
president signed is not a simple decree
but a decree of urgent necessity this is
a tool included in the Argentinian
Constitution which allows the government
to approve or repeal on its own rules
with the rank of law in case of urgency
thus diminishing the capacities of the
Congress obviously it is not that the
government can govern on the basis of
decrees by passing Congress but that
these are tools for emergency situations
specifically this is what article 99 of
the Constitution says only when
exceptional circumstances make it
impossible to follow the ordinary
procedures provided by this constitution
for the enactment of laws and they are
not rules that regulate criminal tax
electoral or political party regime
matters the president May issue decrees
for reasons of necessity and urgency
article 99 constitution of the Argentine
Republic 1994 powers of the president of
the nation however as we say around here
the devil is in the details the
Constitution does not clarify what
exactly constitutes an exceptional
circumstance and of course you know that
politicians however new and different
they may be always know how to twist
common sense in their
favor in this case the logic behind
mle's announcement and his decree is
that Argentina is facing an absolutely
exceptional economic crisis that
justifies taking drastic and accelerated
measures that is why the government was
forced to use the emergency decree check
it out it is essential to adopt measures
to overcome the emergency situation
created by the exceptional economic and
social conditions that the nation is
suffering especially as a consequence of
a set of interventionist decisions
decree 70 2023 basis for the
Reconstruction of the Argentine economy
in any case it is not that Congress has
no role to play here not at all the
truth is that the legislative branch
retains the power to veto any emergency
decree by the way all of this is nothing
new for the Argentine political system
in fact the government of Carlos Saul
manm in the 1990s made more than
intensive use of this tool in order to
advance his ambitious economic program a
program also fundamentally oriented to
the deregulation of the economy you know
that we're talking about Argentina where
the liberalization of the economy tends
to have few supporters in
Congress
the point is that the logic of governing
by decree always has certain super
presidentialist overtones and usually
generates doubts as to whether
governments do not really go too far
with them although as we have have seen
both the Congress and ultimately the
Supreme Court can limit their scope and
even their very validity be that as it
may the point is that mle's appeal has
raised a great deal of criticism
questioning the legitimacy of this move
if you feel inclined you can tell us
what you think about M starting the wave
of changes he has prepared for the
country in the comments I don't know I
think it could be a very interesting
debate having said that it is now time
to take a look at the changes listen
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up greetings to the state date that's
leaving if you like let's start with the
most basic the so feared privatizations
that is selling state-owned companies
which to tell the truth typically have
more holes than a gr cheese well in
Argentina this is a Titanic effort among
other reasons because the state-owned
companies are not really typical
commercial companies but have a special
status they are State companies a
special category that establishes that
the only possible owner is precisely the
state itself and that means that in
practice their workers are basically
public workers practically civil
servants therefore the first step to
privatize these companies is to convert
them into joint stock companies with all
that this entails this was precisely one
of the key points of mle's emergency
decree
of course once this change has been made
now comes the most difficult part
finding a buyer who is willing to take
over companies that in general are loss
making not very productive have
disgruntled workers and with the risk
that in the future a government of a
different flavor may change the rules of
the game
again on reflection between the unions
the opposition the protests and the
labor benefits private izing companies
in Argentina could be as easy as
teaching a polar bear to tango and
that's not to mention the buyers who
will surely surely end up asking
themselves one question what kind of
trouble am I getting myself into well
among the companies that will soon be
hanging up the for sale sign we have ypf
which is in a way an exception although
with some nuances since the government
nationalized it in 2012 this company has
improved its numbers thanks to vakam mua
but now the state may have to pay a
whopping $16 billion in compensation
which makes the operation a real ruin
the question is will the buyers have to
assume this huge cost keys to
understanding the ruling against
Argentina for the expropriation of ypf a
US judge agreed with the plaintiff and
pointed out that they were harmed by the
nationalization of 2012 as they did not
make an offer for the shares they owned
in the company the magistrate accepted
the interest calculation claimed so that
Specialists estimate that the country
will have to pay close to us6 billion
dollars in compensation then another
company that looks set to be privatized
soon is aerolas Argentinas which has one
of the most radicalized unions in the
country if you want to take over irol
lineus Argentinas you will have to kill
us threat to Malay and subsequent
reversal of the main aeronautical
unionist but be careful because the
state is not only thinking of getting
rid of state-owned companies but will
also put an end to the special benefits
that some productive sectors have we're
talking for example about tax credits
credits at advantageous rates subsidies
or restrictions on Entry to the sector
among others well that's
over the idea is that from now on all
companies will compete under the same
rules no privileges or
advantages
however all the business groups
supported the change especially seduced
by One Promise made by mle to carry out
a major labor reform and that action has
already begun stay
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tuned in the Lion's
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Den here at visual politic we have
already told you several times about the
immense power of the Argentinian unions
for years if the unions wanted something
in Argentina the whole country ground to
a halt of course in recent years this
unquestionable almost extortive power
has begun to be harshly criticized and
for two reasons in particular because
the unions have basically become a
political arm of peronism and due to
their often extravagant lifestyle and
that goes a long way to explaining why
their popularity has plummeted to become
by far the worst rated institution of
all take a look neither the IMF nor the
banks nor the media arouse so much bad
feeling we are talking about the fact
that seven out of 10 argentines have a
bad or very bad image of trade unions
something that obviously makes things
much easier for mle the more unpopular
the unions are the better it is for him
to be able to carry out his ambitious
labor reform for the time being using
the emergency decree probationary
periods for new employees have been
extended new voluntary severance pay
mechanisms have been introduced amongst
similar measures however the real blow
comes with the suspension of the
so-called Union
blockades you see in Argentina when a
union wanted to pressure a company to
take on new labor benefits or a wage
increase a measure typically used was to
block the entrances and exits of the
work centers thus paralyzing the
productive activity whether the
employees of the company wanted it or
not that was what explained news like
this moano cameos Union blocks May
libbre warehouses and product deliveries
are in danger sanor warned about a union
blockade that puts 3 million lers of
milk at risk Santa Cruz due to a union
blockade fishing companies are stopped
and mining companies threaten to go to
Chile to operate well all this news is
history the emergency decree approved by
mle has established that these types of
actions are illegal and punishable from
now on in Argentina any action that
affects the freedom to work of employees
who do not want to join a strike along
with any action that prevents or
obstructs access to companies or of
course causes any damage will be a
serious offense as you can imagine this
has caused the big unions to cry foul
according to them the right to strike is
being criminalized which has led them to
call a general strike on the 24th of
January although what can I say the only
thing that has been done is not to
criminalize the fact that a worker
decides to work if he or she does not
agree with a strike which by the way
seems to be an essential right don't you
think for now however Argentina's
National chamber of Labor appeals has
suspended the section of the decree that
addresses the labor reforms leaving the
final definition in the hands of the
Supreme
Court then another actor that is also
playing a key role in the midst of all
the tension that is being Unleashed are
the so-called social movements and what
are social movements well they are
basically organizations that aim to
bring together the beneficiaries of
social plans such as unemployment
benefits or the universal child
allowance these organizations demand Pay
increases and more social plans every 2
years how do they do it well with
protests and roadblocks on the main
roads of the country with special
emphasis on the accesses to the capital
weris well now the government has
communicated that participation in these
kinds of illegal activities will be
sanctioned with the loss of the social
plan or the subsidy of all those who
obstruct public roads
visual politic Community for months it
was questioned whether jaay could
maintain governability in a country
accustomed to massive protests Well for
now the president has shown his cards no
more agitating on the streets and
forcibly paralyzing the country and all
this has happened in little more than a
month in government and with the
Christmas and New Year's holidays in the
middle I have told you before that the
new government has arrived eager to get
the ball rolling the fact is that the
opposition is now entrenched in Congress
a place where Libertarians have begun to
fight the mother of all battles the
Argentine government needs firstly that
government does not anold the emergency
decree and secondly that it does approve
the Omnibus law the question is will
this be possible well listen
up the mother of all
battles the package of measures
announced by mle in the emergency decree
is so broad that here we have only
looked at some very specific points you
could almost say that the decree ruined
the Christmas holidays not only for the
opposition but also for all the jurists
in the country lawyers judges and all
kinds of legal experts it seems to be
that Malay became the real Grinch of
peronism in this sense much of the
validity of the emergency decree will be
in the hands of the Supreme Court which
in the coming weeks will most likely
rule on many of its points the judicial
battle for the enforcement of Javier M's
dnu has begun the first injunction has
been filed they request its nullity for
constituting a deviation of power and an
abuse of public law for violating the
Republican principle the division of
powers democracy the principle of
reservation of law and the collective
rights of the Argentine citizens to
participate in the management of public
affairs directly or through their
representatives the Supreme Court's
precedents are adverse for Javier
melee's Mega decree the highest court
has a very restrictive Criterion to
validate this power of the executive
branch a true state of necessity and
urgency and a legislative impossibility
must be established even so apart from
this whole matter of the judicialization
of the decree the the priority of the
Argentine Congress is to analyze the
Omnibus law a law which serves as a
complement to the decree and which
focuses its attention on many other
reforms of great caliber let's review
the main proposals Incorporated by
mala's government into this
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bill for example we talked about an
electoral reform which proposed to
eliminate the Paso that is the
simultaneous and mandatory open
primaries this will leave it in the
hands of party to decide the formula to
choose their candidates on top of that
it is proposed to establish a single
member constituency system for the
election of national deputies throughout
the country where the less populated
provinces would have fewer
Representatives on the other hand the
law includes a tax amnesty for all those
who sought to hide their income during
the government of Alberto Fernandez this
measure would allow regularizing up to
$100,000 in cash real estate or
cryptocurrencies without having to pay
tax the public works scheme has also
been reformed so that infrastructure PL
financed by private funds opening the
possibility of renegotiating or
terminating contracts under execution
the so-called pension Mobility is
eliminated so that the executive will
establish a new modality for the
calculation of periodic and automatic
readjustments it looks to the effective
privatization of 41 public companies
among them the public Postal Service ypf
banko Nason and the state-owned
Telecommunications Company a carbon
Market will also be created and emission
controls will be established well that
is mainly what the law contains although
mle promised to defend his reforms to
the hilt in the legislature the
libertarian bench is in a clear minority
which has obviously forced it to
negotiate with non- peronist blocks in
order to gather enough votes to pass the
bill at least in the lower house at this
point I think we can all understand the
enormous the gigantic scale of the BET
made by Havier
m
first we have the decree which with one
stroke of a pen modifies years of
regulations and restrictions on economic
activity doubts about its legality are
based on the fact that there is no
recognized need for urgency in the
country but this is exactly where the
Omnibus law comes in which serves beyond
the complimentary reforms for Congress
to validate the consideration of the
state of emergency if Malay is able to
obtain the support of the majority of
the legislature it would be practically
impossible for the the Supreme Court to
overturn both the decree and the Omnibus
law itself malle's move is bold in a few
weeks his government could either have a
historic Victory or suffer a major
defeat before the legislature and the
Supreme Court right at the beginning of
his term be that as it may the chainsaw
has been started up and Libertarians are
already showing their final card in case
their plans don't go as they
hope
well visual politic viewers whether or
not you are a fan of what mle is doing
and the ways he is using powers the
truth is that mle is doing exactly what
he promised rejecting any kind of
gradualism and going straight for it and
guess what even Mauricio McCree himself
believes that this approach was wrong
that
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so this is the way things stand in
Argentina and this is the path of
Demolition and reconstruction prop
opposed by the new president already
known as the Argentinian Lion at this
point the question is now over to you
what do you think of mle's plan and do
you think it's right to try to push
through all the reforms at once do you
think the Omnibus law will ultimately be
passed and Malay will get his way as
always leave your impressions in the
comments and let's open a debate and now
if you found this video interesting
don't forget to like And subscribe to
visual politic if you haven't already
done so thank you very much for watching
well the best see you next
time