La Libertad Avanza has postponed Senate debate on its controversial private property and land ownership reform bill after failing to secure the necessary votes to approve the elimination of restrictions on the purchase of land by foreigners.
Ruling party caucus chief Senator Patricia Bullrich asked for debate to be delayed until at least August 6 after differences emerged between LLA and its allies in Congress, who are less keen on reform of a land ownership law that establishes that foreign businesspeople can only acquire up to 1,000 hectares of national terrain.
The Milei government did not only have difficulties gathering the votes to approve a central point of the bill – there were also reported differences with Deregulation & State Transformation Minister Federico Sturzenegger, who objected to the 15th rewritten version of the Congress committee ruling, according to parliamentary sources.
The new text of the private property bill proposed that each province can dictate its own laws, so that if the national law removed the caps on land purchase in the province, they could be restored locally – a move the national government firmly rejects.
Congressional sources said that Bullrich was announced at the minister’s position, given she had already communicated information about the amendments in a recent meeting.
Among those who weren’t won over by the changes were several Unión Cívica Radical senators, including Maximiliano Abad (Buenos Aires Province), Daniel Kroneberger (La Pampa) and Flavio Famia (Catamarca) and provincial party representatives like Alejandra Vigo (Córdoba), José Carambia and Natalia Gadano (Santa Cruz) and Edith Terenzi (Chubut) maintained their opposition to the bill.
The government now has until next month to seek agreements and to bring the bill to a vote. It could also contemplate changes to sections over rents, expropriations and fire-fighting legislation.
Thin quorum
Milei’s government arrived at this session in serious difficulties, only just managed to wrangle a minimal 37 senators to gain quorum.
La Libertad Avanza was supported in its bid by 21 senators from LLA, 10 Radicals, two PRO and four provincial party lawmakers (two from Misiones and one each from Salta and Neuquén), but with none from the other non-Peronist caucuses.
Moderates and Peronists weren’t the only ones averse to debating private property. Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, who serves as head of the Senate, did not want to session and exchanged a fierce argument with Senator Bullrich on X and privately, by an exchange of messages.
"How are we going to hold a session after having almost won the World Cup?" Villarruel reproached Bullrich. At the end of the exchange the VP accused the senator of being a bootlicker to Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, to which Bullrich retorted: "Chau! Beginning and end of a short political life."
Limits on land purchases
One of the central points of the bill is to eliminate the limitations on land acquisitions by foreigners while leaving it up to the provinces to authorise sales to foreigners.
The acquisition of rural land by foreign states or companies with foreign state shareholders is to be prohibited under any legal shape or form unless authorised by the province where the land is located and by the national government.
Each province will conserve full jurisdiction over the territory within its respective borders, in accordance with the National Constitution. In frontier zones this will have to be authorised by both national and provincial governments.
The 13th version of the committee ruling maintained the prohibition on any private company with capital from any foreign country being able to acquire land while requisite for frontier zones is the approval of both provincial and national governments and the National Congress.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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