Congress is preparing to become the center of a new political dispute when it has to discuss the Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) that the Government will issue to reach a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) without the approval of a law, as established by current regulations.
Negotiations between the Ministry of Economy and the IMF are for an amount estimated between US$10 billion and US$20 billion, with the aim of paying off the debt with the Central Bank and strengthening reserves. President Javier Milei announced that he will use a DNU for this new agreement with the IMF, instead of the Debt Sustainability Law approved during the Kirchner government, which requires the Executive Power to seek Parliament's consent before signing an agreement with the IMF.
One of the doubts that persisted today in Parliament is whether the Government will suspend the law approved in 2021 or only Article 2 of Law 27.612, which states that any agreement with the IMF must be expressly approved by Congress. The ruling party is awaiting the arrival of the DNU that will be published in the next few hours and must be addressed in the Bicameral Legislative Treatment Commission.
The use of this constitutional tool will allow the Government to have the authorization in effect from the moment it is published in the Official Bulletin, without waiting for legislative timelines. In this context, the Government will have nearly a month to finalize its agreement with the IMF without the opposition being able to discuss it in the session chamber.
Regarding the DNU Law, it establishes that the Executive Power must submit it to the consideration of the Permanent Bicameral Commission, which must then rule on the validity or invalidity of the decree within ten working days and submit the opinion to the plenary of each Chamber for its discussion.
Since Milei took office, Parliament repealed a DNU that allocated funds to the Intelligence System (SIDE), but kept in force decree 70/2023, which, despite the rejection in the Senate, was not addressed in the Chamber of Deputies thanks to the support of dialoguing opposition members.
