Study: Milei issuing emergency decrees at faster rate than last four governments

Javier Milei is issuing emergency presidential decrees at a faster rate than any of Argentina’s most recent four presidents, normalising what should be a rarity into a “naturalised institutional practice,” a civil rights watchdog has warned.

In a report titled “From the exception to the rule,” the Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (Civil Association for Equality and Justice, or ACIJ) noted that Milei “is the one which, proportionately, has issued more Emergency Decrees per year” of any head of state since 2011.

It warned that decrees – or DNUs, according to their acronym – were now “regulating the most varied legal situations.”

Even though they serve as a tool which the Executive Branch has a right to use – as per Section 99, Subsection 3 of the National Constitution – “the exception has become the rule,” warned the ACIJ.

“The use and abuse of this prerogative has been strongly objected to in academia, politics and civil society and the topic usually goes in and out of the public agenda insofar as different governments use it to regulate highly transcendental political subject-matters,” the association stated.

Analysing the use of emergency decrees during presidential terms from 2011 to 2024, the ACIJ found that Milei issued 50 in his first year in office, outpacing former presidents Alberto Fernández (2019-2023), Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2011-2015).

For contrast, Fernández issued an average 44.25 during his four years in office, Macri 17.5 and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner 11.75.

It further pointed out that, out of the 344 emergency decrees issued between 2011 and 2024, only one had been rejected by both Chambers, “which accounts for the practical difficulty Congress has to exercise the control powers” granted by the Constitution.

“The issuance of Emergency Decree 70/2023 by President Javier Milei in December 2023 was widely criticised for reforming, repealing and regulating a wide range of laws, codes and legal systems in force. Until then, nearly all Emergency Decrees had a given scope, meaning they regulated different aspects of a single subject-matter. With the exception of a few decrees, the overwhelming majority has the goal of regulating a specific and particular subject-matter,” ACIJ stated.

Socialist lawmaker Esteban Paulón, attending the launch of the report, described Milei’s decrees as “unconstitutional” since he considered them a “subjugation” of the Congress’ functions.

“The President has to understand we live in a Republic, where branches are independent and democratic dialogue and consensus are the way, not aspiration,” he said.

– TIMES/NA