The Senate is debating a reform bill filed by President Javier Milei which aims to protect private property, including a proposal to limit state expropriations and loosen restrictions on the purchase of rural land in Argentina by foreigners. The session began on Thursday afternoon, with ruling party La Libertad Avanza (LLA) confident that it has enough backing to pass. The bill was designed by Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger with the goal of “eliminating illegitimate restrictions which limit the essential content of the right to property, strengthening its protection, and continuing to promote legal certainty,” according to the proposal’s argumentative section.
The provision was initially scheduled to be debated in June, but was postponed after quorum was not reached. To ensure support, LLA modified the text around a dozen times after some ally blocs expressed concern over certain aspects of the proposal. Some of the changes requested by the ally parties include keeping a registry of informal settlements aimed at protecting the rights of their inhabitants, which the government initially intended to eliminate, as well as eliminating LLA’s proposal to create a protocol for “express evictions.” Rural land ownership One of the laws Milei wants to modify was approved in 2011 during ex-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s government, which limits how much Argentine land can be owned by foreigners, in order to preserve sovereignty over natural resources.
The law establishes that no more than 15% of the total of rural land at a national, provincial and municipal level can be in foreign hands, either physical people or companies. Out of that 15%, up to 30% can be owned by people or entities of the same nationality. It also limits the amount of land one foreign owner can purchase in certain areas, while also banning them from buying land with important water bodies in them, such as rivers, lakes and glaciers, as well as land located in border security areas.
The changes LLA wants to “lift the general restrictions imposed for the purchase of rural land by foreign buyers,” something which the 2011 law “criminalized,” said presidential spokesman Adrián Ravier in a press conference. “It is one thing to be a private investor, and another to be a foreign state,” Ravier said. The reform aims to “reinforce the provisions of the National Constitution that st…
Summary from source