ARGENTINA: Macri Vetoes Legislation Freezing Tariffs

(RTTNews) - The veto of President Mauricio Macri to the bill freezing public services' tariffs in Argentina, approved by the Senate, was published Friday, as expected.

Macri's administration claims that the legislation would be unconstitutional, once public fares are the responsibility of the Executive Power and not of the Legislative.

"[The bill] does not respect the constitutional mandate of the parliament," said Macri's chief of staff, Marcos Pe?a, during a press conference. He said that the president used his "constitutional power" to veto the legislation passed by the Senate.

The bill, which was approved by 37 votes to 30, intended to roll back the tariffs to November 2017 levels and subordinating the increases in electricity, water and gas bills to the evolution of wages for household consumption and the index of wholesale prices of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

In his justification to the veto, Macri claimed "that the deterioration of the energy services as a result of the inertia of more than a decade imposed on the State, and each of its powers, a special prudence and rigor when determining tariffs and their transparency."