The ruling party began to review its roadmap in the Chamber of Deputies. Although it had planned to hold a session next Wednesday to advance two key projects of its economic agenda, the fear that Manuel Adorni’s crisis would monopolize the debate and accelerate an opposition attempt to remove him from the Chief of Cabinet position sparked an internal discussion about the advisability of opening the floor.
The original plan of La Libertad Avanza contemplated addressing the agreement to pay US$171 million to the holdouts Bainbridge and Attestor, and the so-called «Super RIGI,» the incentive regime for investments exceeding US$1,000 million. But Adorni’s situation altered the scenario.
After the interview in which the official tried to explain the growth of his wealth from found money and Bitcoin investments, the opposition called for a special session on Tuesday the 23rd to debate his interpellation and a possible motion of censure. They called it just 24 hours before the session the ruling party intended to use to push its own projects.
The first question is whether the opposition blocs will manage to gather the 129 deputies needed to enable the debate. For now, those numbers are not guaranteed. Much of the decision depends on the government’s usual allies, mainly Pro and the UCR, who do not want to be the ones to define the Chief of Cabinet’s political future.
The caution of the allies also responds to internal differences between the two chambers. In the Senate, where Mauricio Macri retains direct influence through Martín Goerling, head of the Pro bloc, the party has already signaled that it is willing to move forward with requests for explanations from Adorni. In the Chamber of Deputies, however, Cristian Ritondo avoids becoming the leader who ends up sealing the Chief of Cabinet’s fate and reserves the harshest criticism for Fernando de Andreis, one of the former president’s closest figures within the Macrista legislative universe.
Something similar occurs in the UCR. While in the Senate a majority of Radicals lean toward supporting the move against Adorni, in the Chamber of Deputies more cautious positions prevail. There, the influence of Mendoza Governor Alfredo Cornejo, one of the ruling party’s main interlocutors among provincial governors, weighs heavily. That difference helps explain why the votes the opposition needs today to reach a quorum remain uncertain.
The situation became even more uncomfortable for allied deputies after the Senate decided to postpone the discussion on Adorni for a week. In a meeting of bloc leaders, the opposition agreed with Senator Patricia Bullrich to delay the debate until next week and move forward only on Thursday the 25th with the approval of an interpellation for July 2.
That decision once again placed all the pressure on the lower house. Therefore, among the dialoguist blocs, the idea of avoiding any move that would force them to assume the political cost of activating the process against Adorni and letting the Senate take the initiative is growing.
To that political discussion is added another, of a regulatory nature, that particularly worries the ruling party. Some sectors of the opposition argue that the interpellation followed by a possible motion of censure does not need to go through the usual committee circuit nor does it require two-thirds to be considered on the spot. They argue that Article 101 of the Constitution establishes a specific procedure that only requires an absolute majority of each Chamber.
The interpretation was raised in the Senate by the head of the Peronist bloc, José Mayans, and ended up being accepted by the rest of the benches, including the ruling party. «If it gathers a majority, it would have an interpellation and that could lead, or not, to a motion of censure,» Bullrich acknowledged at the end of the parliamentary labor meeting.
That precedent increases the pressure on Martín Menem. If the lower house adopts the same criterion, the opposition could push for an interpellation without having to go through the usual legislative process.
Deputy Maximiliano Ferraro was one of the first to make that strategy explicit. «Next week we must open the floor, gather 129 deputies, and vote on his interpellation with a motion of censure. Neither committees nor opinions are needed,» he stated.
For the ruling party, the immediate priority is to block the session requested by the opposition for Tuesday. And if its strategy succeeds, more and more consider it inconvenient to open the floor the following day to address the agreement with the holdouts and the «Super RIGI.» They fear that any session could end up becoming an opportunity for the opposition to move against Adorni.
For now, no one wants to anticipate a decision. «The political table will decide,» responded a libertarian figure when asked about the possibility of maintaining the session scheduled for Wednesday. Meanwhile, the two projects the government hoped to turn into its next legislative victories remain on hold, awaiting the resolution of the crisis facing its Chief of Cabinet.
Para mí estos libertarios de mierda se cagan enteros, tienen miedo hasta de su propia sombra. Saben que si Adorni pisa el recinto les explota todo, chorros vendepatria. No bancan ni un debate, lacras, vayan a laburar.
Para mí estos libertarios son unos cagones de mierda, le tienen miedo hasta a su propia sombra. Yo creo que si no se animan a debatir, que se vayan a la concha de su madre. Adorni es un héroe nacional y la oposición unos vendepatria. A sesionar y bancarse la interpelación, cobardes de mierda.