Between the Congress of the Republic and the President, Gustavo Petro, a strong tension has been increasing due to the most recent election of Carlos Camargo as the new magistrate of the Constitutional Court. The head of state had already threatened that if María Patricia Balanta was not chosen, who also aspired to the position of magistrate, the government team would be restructured.
A situation that provides greater confrontation with not only political and country effects, but economic and business, because it is a new cloud that appears for the climate of business and the investment landscape in the country.
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And it is that the ruling in the Each of Nariño was swift, since as soon as the defeat for the Government, the cabinet of President Gustavo Petro was shaken again, since it was known that from the house of Nariñ Commerce, Diana Marcela Rojas.
These resignations of the charges of the three portfolios would be given to a view to reorganizing alliances with the political forces of the Congress.
“The choice of the new magistrate or magistrate will define the entire picture of alliances in Congress. We cannot give up those who have supported fascism”President Petro said at the beginning of the week, who had ordered his bench days ago to accompany the balanta candidacy.
According to El Tiempo information, the request for resignation to these officials would be linked to the fact that the sectors they represent, ‘the U’ and liberal, respectively-, they did not accompany the candidate for magistrate.
The departure of these ministers would be added to the long list of changes that the cabinet has experienced in the three years of the Petro administration. The last shake took place in early August with the relays in the portfolios of equality and environment.
It is worth noting that, since August 7, 2022 when Petro took office in the position of head of state until August 2025, 57 ministers have been designated, which makes him the president with more ministerial changes in history.
And with these new three movements in the Labor Ministries, ICT and Commerce the figure would increase to 60 officials who have gone through the portfolios of this government.
Investment climate would be overshadowed by political situation of the country.
Courtesy: Istock
What happened to the choice of the new magistrate?
The Congress elected Carlos Camargo Assis as the new magistrate of the Constitutional Court, which will replace José Fernando Reyes Cuartas, whose period of eight years to the Front of the High Court culminates this month.
Camargo surpassed María Patricia Balanta Medina and Jaime Humberto Tobar Ordóñez in the vote. Prior to the vote, some business leaders asked Congress that the decision was taken under total independence, since they assured that the institutional balance depends on this procedure.
Carlos Camargo won the vote in the Senate and will be the new magistrate of the Constitutional Court. Opposition senators celebrated the triumph.
Milton Diaz
‘Bad news for business climate in the country’
With this radiography of the country’s political situation, the professor of the School of Administration of the University of Rosario, Alejandro Useche, points out that this uncertainty and tension what it generates in the economy It is a bad climate for business.
“These are bad news for the climate of business in the country, the continued change of the government team, more decision -making with political than economic criteria, polarization and even the confrontation between parties that support the government and opponents are deepening an environment of uncertainty, brake on investment decision making”Said Useche.
In addition, he mentioned that this does not allow the country to grow properly, nor that employment is generated in the required conditions. He stressed that, in the end, the injured party is the government, by failing to execute many of his works and plans.
Meanwhile, he commented that the political polarization that the country currently suffers is undoubtedly one of the facts that has most influenced economic performance and Also the results in social matters in Colombia.
“This new chapter that we are seeing of the change of ministers in response to the results of the election of the new magistrate of the Court becomes an addition political criteria that in solid arguments from the technical point of view“He added.
Therefore, he mentioned that the change of ministers has a very important impact in terms of greater slowness of the execution of the programs of the different portfolios, the credibility of the government that is already worn out with these changes is also reduced.
Now the challenge is for the new ministers who reach the portfolios, since they necessarily have to go through a learning curve to understand the dynamics that They are being handled to continue with the execution of projects, less than a year for the end of the mandate.
The Government must file the tax reform project in the Congress of the Republic.
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What is in the legislative agenda?
In these last 11 months of the Petro government, the filing of new projects to modify the laws of the country is planned, however, in the Congress of the Republic the environment has been reduced, which could generate that, instead of approving new norms, these may be stopped.
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For the rush of the legislative agenda, the eyes in this semester are put in the approval of the General Budget of the Nation (PGN) for next year. A project that has had enough debate for the amount that Proposes $ 557 billion, a historically high figure.
At the same time, there is also what happens with the new government reform of the Government since it will be tied to PGN 2026 and seek a collection of $ 26.3 billion, with the imposition of new taxes to several economic sectors.
Therefore, new projects that are based would be in suspense of having a debate and finishing their process before the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Republic.
Leidy Julieth Ruiz Clavijo
Portfolio journalist
