The Argentine judiciary has decided that the Decree of Necessity and Urgency (abbreviation DNU) applies Javier Milei The law, signed in December and taken into effect on January 2nd, is unconstitutional. For the third time, the libertarian president’s text hits a wall. This Tuesday’s was raised by the National Chamber of Labor Appeals.
The court responded to a lawsuit by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and ruled that Chapter 4 of the decree was unconstitutional. The ruling includes the consideration that these reforms must be debated in Congress rather than signed by the executive branch. The decision concerns the articles related to the labor reform promoted by the Milei government, which it did not forward to parliament but included in the “mega-decree”, as the DNU has described.
The aim of the initiative was to “modernize work”, including the intention to introduce a severance fund or unemployment insurance to replace the compensation currently in force. There was also a union chapter focused on reform that was being attempted Mauricio Macri in 2017, which also failed to move forward, as well as the inclusion of blockades as a reason for dismissal, which opened a debate about the right to strike. It was a whole chapter of fundamental reforms.
The first attempts to block Mileis DNU were rejected by the courts. For example, when the Federal Dispute Chamber rejected the first preliminary injunction against the entire decision. The CGT decided to require protection for only one of the chapters.
The judges noted that the recitals of the said DNU themselves express – at least with regard to labor matters – that the “necessity” of adopting so many measures is not objectively obvious and that, even if this could be justified, there are no reasons There is “urgency” for this so that the matter is not dealt with by Congress. The Milei government can now appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
The nationwide labor judge made a decision on January 24th Liliana Rodríguez invalidated six articles of the “mega-decree” labor reform dealing with union dues, collective bargaining rules, social benefits and other guarantees; on the same day that the CGT and other trade union, political and social organizations staged a nationwide strike against the measure.
On the other hand, on Monday the 29th, a federal judge in La Plata had given room for a precautionary measure by which Article 154 of the DNU, which abolished the land law, was preemptively suspended for “failure to provide adequate justification for the provide the underlying relationship that would lead to it.” Explain the form in which lifting the norm would “contribute to overcoming the social and economic problems facing the nation.”
The land law restricts the ability to sell land to foreigners that have major water sources or are located in border security zones. Specifically, it wanted to repeal the restriction that only 15% of Argentina’s total rural land could be in the hands of foreigners.
Meanwhile, in his desire to deregulate Argentina’s economy, Milei repealed nearly 70 regulations on price controls, supply and other bureaucratic requirements for the private sector. Argentina reported monthly inflation of 25.5% in December and ended 2023 with an annual swing of 211.4%, the worst in 32 years.
This Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) drastically reduced its figures for the Argentine economy and, following the first measures taken by the government of Javier Milei, now forecasts a 2.8% decline in gross domestic product this year. After this decline, the IMF expects a recovery in 2025 with GDP growth of 5% compared to 2024.
The IMF’s chief economist, Pierre Oivier Gourinchasalso expected inflation to fall in the second half of the year to a level of 150% annually at the end of this year and said that the budget adjustment sought by the Milei government was “absolutely necessary” to consolidate the decline in the cost of living. .