Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers

History

The office of the chief of the Cabinet of Ministers was established by the 1994 amendment to the Argentine Constitution. In the end, however, the overarching nature of Argentina's political system following the reform remained decidedly presidential, as the chief of the Cabinet of Ministers acts more as an extension of the president to whom the head of state may delegate a certain number of responsibilities, while also being constitutionally obligated to report to the National Congress.

The first Cabinet chief was Eduardo Bauzá, who was appointed on 8 July 1995 by President Carlos Saúl Menem.

Attributes

The attributes of the chief of the Cabinet of Ministers are established by the articles 100 and 101 of the Constitution of Argentina. Most of the Cabinet chief's duties are related to the organization of the cabinet's work agenda and the general course of the government's performance, as well as acting as an intermediary between the executive power and the Argentine National Congress.

Specifically, articles 100 and 101 state:

Chapter IV

The Chief of the Ministerial Cabinet and other Ministers of the Executive Power

Section 100.- The Chief of the Ministerial Cabinet and the other secretary ministers, whose number and powers shall be determined by a special law, shall be in charge of the business of the Nation and shall countersign and legalize the acts of the President with their signatures, without which said acts are void.

The Chief of the Ministerial Cabinet, politically liable before the National Congress, is empowered:

1.- To exercise the general administration of the country.

2.- To perform the acts and issue the rules necessary to exercise the powers granted by this section as well as those delegated by the President of the Nation, being countersigned by the pertinent secretary minister to which the act or rule refers.

3.- To appoint the employees of the Administration, except for those pertaining to the President.

4.- To exercise the functions and powers delegated to him by the President of the Nation and, with the consent of the Cabinet, to decide about matters that the Executive Power may indicate to him or, on his own account, about those he deems it necessary due to their importance, within the scope of his jurisdiction.

5.- To coordinate, prepare and convoke the meetings of the ministerial cabinet, presiding at them in the absence of the President.

6.- To submit to Congress the bills on Ministries and National Budget, with the prior consent of the Cabinet and the approval of the Executive Power.

7.- To have the revenues of the Nation collected and to enforce the National Budget Act.

8.- To countersign regulatory decrees of the laws, decrees to extend the ordinary legislative session of Congress or to convoke to an extraordinary one, and the messages of the President supporting legislative initiatives.

9.- To attend the meetings of Congress and take part in its debates, but not to vote.

10.- Once the ordinary legislative session of Congress has begun, to submit together with the other ministers a detailed report on the state of the Nation regarding the business of the respective departments.

11.- To give such oral and written reports and explanations that either of the Houses may request from the Executive Power.

12.- To countersign decrees about powers delegated by Congress, which shall be under the control of the Joint Standing Committee.

13.- To countersign, together with the other ministers, decrees of necessity and urgency and decrees on partial promulgation of laws. Within ten days of their approval, he shall personally submit these decrees to the consideration of the Joint Standing Committee.

The Chief of the Ministerial Cabinet shall not be simultaneously appointed to another ministry.

Section 101.- The Chief of the Ministerial Cabinet shall attend Congress at least once a month, alternating between each House, to report on the progress of the government, notwithstanding the provisions of Section 71. He may be interpellated for the purpose of considering a vote of censure, by the vote of the absolute majority of all the members of either House, and he may be removed by the vote of the absolute majority of the members of each House.}}

Headquarters

The office of the Cabinet chief has two seats, one of them is located at the Somisa Building (officially known as the "Teniente General Castiñeiras" building), former headquarters of the Sociedad Mixta Siderúrgica Argentina (SOMISA), a state-owned metallurgy company created in 1972. Following the privatization of Somisa in 1993, the building was acquired by the national government to be used as the headquarters of the newly created Cabinet Chief's office. The building, designed in the modernist style by Mario Roberto Álvarez, was built from 1966 to 1977 and was the first building in Argentina to be made entirely out of 3 mm steel sheets and to be fully welded. It is located on Julio Argentino Roca Avenue in the Monserrat barrio of Buenos Aires.

The second seat is the Secretariat of Management and Public Employment Building (former "Banco Argentino-Uruguayo"), located on Diagonal Norte and San Martín streets in Buenos Aires. The building was designed by French architect Eduardo Le Monnier, and was seat of defunct Ministry of Modernization, created during the administration of Mauricio Macri in 2015. The ministry was then dissolved and became part of the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers three years later.

List of chiefs of the Cabinet of Ministers

References

References

1. (25 February 2016). "Un incendio afectó a la Jefatura de Gabinete". [[Infobae]].
2. (23 November 2020). "Asignación Salarial de las Autoridades del Poder Ejecutivo Nacional 2020".
3. Lozano, Luis. "Jefe de Gabinete". [[Argentine Chamber of Deputies.
4. Serrafero, Mario. (October 2003). "La Jefatura de Gabinete y las crisis políticas: el caso De la Rúa". Revista SAAP.
5. {{cite constitution. (15 December 1994)
6. (1 November 2025). "Habló Manuel Adorni como jefe de Gabinete y se refirió a la salida de Francos: "Había un ciclo cumplido"". [[La Nación]].
7. Rivero, Pablo. (21 August 2014). "La Constitución reformada cumple 20 años". Parlamentario.
8. Serrafero, Mario. (1999). "Presidencialismo argentino: ¿atenuado o reforzado?". Araucaria.
9. Badaloni, Roxana. (17 February 2019). "Falleció Eduardo Bauzá, ex ministro de Carlos Menem y el primer Jefe de Gabinete de la historia". [[Clarín (Argentine newspaper).
10. "Congreso de la Nación Argentina". Congress of the Argentine Nation.
11. (31 January 2011). "Bello gigante de acero". [[Clarín (Argentine newspaper).
12. (12 February 2015). "Edificio Somisa: de ícono moderno a Monumento Histórico Nacional". [[Clarín (Argentine newspaper).
13. [https://www.lanacion.com.ar/sociedad/restauraron-edificio-del-exbanco-argentino-uruguayo-joya-nid2218123/ Restauraron el edificio del ex Banco Argentino Uruguayo, una joya de Diagonal Norte] by Victor Pombinho on ''La Nación'', 7 Feb 2019
14. [https://web.archive.org/web/20151130022144/http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1848853-para-que-sirve-el-ministerio-de-modernizacion ¿Para qué sirve el ministerio de Modernización?]. ''La Nación'' (archived)
15. [https://www.infobae.com/politica/2018/09/03/asi-queda-el-nuevo-gabinete-de-cambiemos-con-10-ministerios/ Oficial: cómo quedó conformado el nuevo gabinete nacional con 10 ministerios], ''Infobae'', 3 Sep 2018