Buenos Aires, March 18 (NA) – The Chamber of Deputies resumed its constituent meetings on Wednesday and appointed authorities in six of them. This process, which will conclude on Thursday, aims to fully activate the body's functioning to handle new bill proposals throughout the year. During the extraordinary sessions, nine committees had already been formed to address labor reform, the Juvenile Penal Regime, the Mercosur-European Union agreement, and the reform of the Glaciers Law. presidencies of all of them were taken by La Libertad Avanza, which asserted its power, as reported by the Argentine News Agency. On Tuesday, the work was resumed, and seven committees were established. La Libertad Avanza secured the leadership of what it considers the most relevant committee, General Legislation (Santiago Santurio was ratified as head), and placed an ally, José Luis Garrido (for Santa Cruz), at the helm of the Industry committee. Unión por la Patria retained the presidencies of the Economy and Culture committees (with Julia Strada and Lorena Poloik, respectively) and added the committee for the Elderly (with Pablo Todero as president); while Provincias Unidas took control of SMEs (Pablo Farías) and Commerce (Juan Brügge). On Wednesday, La Libertad Avanza appointed the Mendoza native Facundo Correa Llano as head of Energy and Fuels, displacing Lorena Villaverde, who had been her predecessor but was implicated in allegations of links to narco interests. The ruling coalition also took control of the Disability committee, where it agreed on the presidency for the Tucuman Gerardo Huesen, and in the Social Action and Public Health committee, where it placed the Jujuy native Manuel Quintar. These are two committees that the ruling coalition traditionally ceded to the opposition, but after last year's setbacks with the passage of the emergency laws on disability and pediatric health, the government does not want to repeat those experiences and therefore took control. PRO maintained the presidency of the Education committee, which will be temporarily chaired by Alicia Fregonese while former Minister Alejandro Finocchiarre recovers from a serious health issue. Provincias Unidas, for its part, took over the Transport committee, where the Jujuy radical Jorge “Colo” Rizzotti took the helm. Ariel Rauschenberger (Unión por la Patria) will chair the committee for the Analysis and Monitoring of Tax Norms. What's Next Thursday will see the final day to complete this round of 18 constituent meetings. Members and authorities will be appointed for the following five committees: Women and Diversity; Housing and Urban Planning; Cooperative, Mutual and Non-Governmental Organization Affairs; Agriculture and Livestock; and Population and Human Development.
