After many years, the General Budget of the Nation would be exposed again to vices of unconstitutionality, after the recent decision of the economic commissions of the Senate and the House, which, in the midst of a very polarized environment, did not agree to approve the amount of the income accounts for the next year, before September 15, as ordered in the Organic Budget Statute.
Given the lack of consensus and the radical position of the Government with its $523 billion and of the sectors that are asking for a cut of $11 billion in spending, last week it was announced that the Congressional committees in charge of endorsing the initiative would give themselves until September 25 to reach an agreement, after the amount requested by the Budget was denied for the first time in history.
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According to the president of the Economic Commissions, Jorge Eliécer Salazar (Partido de La U), the debate on the Budget will continue without the approval of the amount, and once the future of the financing law is defined, its value will be adjusted for implementation next year. All this, he said, based on a ruling by the Constitutional Court on a similar case, which protected what was approved outside the established deadlines.
However, to delve deeper into this case, Portafolio undertook the task of reviewing all the Court’s pronouncements on the General Budget of the Nation, and found that none has touched the late approval, What is currently happeningsince Congress did not comply with the deadlines established by law, despite having two days without legislating on the matter, before September 15.
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Long story
In the last 26 years (1998 -2024), according to records of the Constitutional Court, its judges have ruled at least 25 times to settle differences and claims related to the General Budget of the Nation. Of these decisions, the vast majority are related to the distribution of expenses and assignment of functions, as well as on limits on the growth of items, mainly in personnel costs and the allocations that must be made to the regions.
Of all the failures that this medium has learned about, The closest to a debate on deadlines and untimeliness is judgment C-1645 of 2000.when a legal dispute was resolved regarding the steps to be taken in the event that the regulatory time is not met, due to the fault of the Legislative Branch and when the responsibility falls on the National Government.
The lawsuit at that time was against article 64 of Decree 111 of 1996.arguing that it provides the same solution to a scenario where there is negligence on the part of Congress as to one that could arise when the fault lies with the Ministry of Finance, to which the Court agreed, ordering that part to be changed and different treatments to be given. After this, nothing is said about the endorsement of untimely approvals.
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Beyond what has already been mentioned, in the compilation of pronouncements on the General Budget of the Nation, the high court has also dedicated several issues to tax issues, future terms and salary adjustments of government officials, but nothing related to what was said by the board of directors, which postponed the debate and skipped the deadlines to debate and approve or reject the amount.
There is no clarity
Portafolio consulted with several congressmen about the ruling that they mentioned in the presidency of the economic commissions and up to the time of this publication there was no clarity on the rules and judicial pronouncements that could have served as a basis. However, most of the sources referred to ruling C-1403 of the year 2000, when the Development Plan of former President Andrés Pastrana was demanded.
National Budget Debate.
Cesar Melgarejo/ CEET
All the legal impasses that occurred at that time with the PND directly affected the investment plan and, in turn, the inclusion of this item in the Budget of that time. Although in the end the income and expenditure accounts were protected, It was not because they had been approved outside the time limit, but because of their relationship with the challenged law.
In this regard, Henry Amorocho, professor at the University of Rosarioindicated that the only time that untimeliness was discussed was more than 40 years ago, when “after the Budget had been approved by law, after midnight on October 20, the Supreme Court of Justice decided to declare it unconstitutional and ordered that it be approved by decree,” which was what ended up being done after an agreement between the parties.
“Having reviewed all the budget rulings, we did not find any in that sense. The most similar one we found was the one on the Pastrana Development Plan, which was issued above those terms and was also declared unenforceable, but on that occasion there was already a decision on the merits, so we see that it is a different issue,” he explained.
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The risks are revived
To better understand the scope of what is happening in Congress, it must be said that the Organic Budget Statute, which is a law of constitutional rank, establishes four unchangeable dates in this process. The first is June 29, when the Government must file the bill; then It is September 15, which is when the general amount or spending goal must be defined and approved.
Then comes September 25, the deadline for approval in the first debate, and October 20, when the entire 2025 project must be ready and approved. If this is not fulfilled due to the Government’s fault, the Budget will be defined by taking what was approved in the current PGN with adjustments for economic growth and if the fault falls on Congress, the Executive can withdraw it by decree.
Debate on the amount of the General National Budget.
Courtesy – Ministry of Finance
However, any breach of this rule, how would it be currently happening in the economic commissionsmay incur in vices of unconstitutionality such as those experienced this year with the Budget problems and which left the country open to the possibility of falling into a scenario of fiscal unsustainability.
“We just have to wait until Friday, September 20 to find out which proposals have been filed and which ones are up for voting the following week, so that on September 25 the definition of the income budget and appropriation law can take place, and depending on that decision, the income estimates and spending authorizations that are approved for the year 2025 will be clearly established,” concluded Henry Amorocho.
The bone of contention between Congress and the Ministry of Finance is the $12 billion that they want to remove from spending items, since some parties consider that it is money that cannot be counted without having it secured, especially because it is unknown what the future of the Financing Law may be. If it were to collapse, the Budget would violate another principle: fiscal sustainability.
