Andrea Becerril
Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday December 28, 2022, p. 4
The president of the Senate, Alejandro Armenta, promotes a reform to the regulations of that chamber to establish as part of any legislative process the holding of open parliaments, so that all voices are heard before approving modifications to the Constitution and secondary laws.
It will be the power of those who preside over the board of directors and the work commissions to resort to this mechanism, which will allow experts and members of civil society to participate in important issues, highlighted the senator from Morena.
In the explanatory statement of the initiative that he presented at the close of the last session, he stressed that various transparency and openness mechanisms have currently been created in the Senate, but “it is of the utmost importance to institutionalize the open parliament, since Currently carrying it out is not an obligation or a function or faculty of the Legislative Power, although in recent years, in which Morena governs, a political will has been manifested to open that instance.
A limited concept of open parliament has been implemented, which implies the opening of public spaces such as forums, seminars, conversations, face-to-face or online events with free citizen participation and assistance, as well as the reception of documents, initiatives, proposals and opinions by written or via electronic means, via emails or institutional digital addresses. Thus, opinions, positions, needs and demands are heard, always including all sectors and all the actors involved and impacted, or where appropriate affected or benefited.
with the reform project.
However, the future of this figure of citizen participation cannot be left to political will, since it is not known if in the future the will exists that we legislators have today.
. That is why this figure must be institutionalized, which allows citizens to feel represented in the construction of laws and for this reason the normative framework that frames the functions and operation of the Senate must be modified”, highlighted Armenta.
The initiative proposes to reform articles 130 and 133 of the Regulations of the Senate of the Republic.
