( Spanish) –– With 153 votes in favor, 87 against and 8 abstentions, the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, managed to prevent the opposition from overturning his veto of the Retirement Mobility Law which had been approved by the National Congress weeks ago.
The legislation promoted by the radicals and later vetoed by the president sought to compensate for the loss of purchasing power of pensions for the elderly in the face of the inflationary jump of 20.6% in January, which had been partially accompanied by an increase in their assets of 12.5%.
After the approval, Milei kept his promise to veto it, as he had previously warned, but as established by the Constitution, the chamber of origin – in this case the Deputies – had the power to nullify the presidential decision and insist on its project.
However, this did not happen. After Milei’s veto, some deputies changed their position and on Wednesday voted against what they had initially considered necessary. That is, they voted in favour of the cancellation of the increase for pensioners that they themselves had brought about.
The law, which was intended to increase pensions by 8.1%, had been partially approved by the House of Representatives at the beginning of June and was finally approved by the Senate on 22 August.
In that last session, the only senators who voted against the increase in pensions were those from the ruling La Libertad Avanza bloc, which made it clear that, without the support of other parties, the Government has no chance of winning in Parliament.
The government’s main ally is the PRO, the political force led by former President Mauricio Macri, who, in addition to supporting the pension law in Congress, had voted days ago against the decree that grants millions of dollars reserved for intelligence. Some analysts believe that, in these two actions, Macri risked his participation in Milei’s government.
In fact, days later, after being invited by the president to dinner at the presidential residence in Olivos, Macri expressed on his X account that he was in favor of the decision to veto the new retirement mobility formula that his own senators had approved.
Finally, on Wednesday, deputies from the former president’s party supported the government. But PRO legislators were not the only ones who supported the presidential veto or the most decisive aid.
Hours before the parliamentary session, a photo anticipated the end of the story: one in which five radical deputies are seen in the Casa Rosada, sharing a table with the president and his team. In the image, Martín Arjol, Luis Picat, José Federico Tournier, Mariano Campero and Pablo Cervi can be seen. In June, four of them had voted in favor of the law. This Wednesday, all five supported its rejection.
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