Through a letter, the Attorney General of the Nation, Margarita Cabello Blanco, asked the Constitutional Court to declare the entire Pension Reform unenforceable (Law 2381 of 2024)considering that in the plenary session of the House of Representatives the debate on the initiative was avoided by adopting, without deliberation, the text previously approved by the Senate.
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In a statement sent to the high court, the head of the Public Ministry warned that, in the session of last June 14, faced with a proposal suddenly presented by the Government bench, The Plenary of the Chamber suspended the detailed discussion that it had been carrying out and hastily approved the proposal to accept the Senate text adopted in the second debate.
According to the Attorney General, although more than 60 modifications had been introduced with respect to the original Senate text and there were more than 500 adjustment proposals presented by the different groups, the Board of Directors of the Chamber ordered that the congressmen vote on the reform en bloc, without the possibility of individually debating each of the 95 articles. This procedure, “curtailed the possibility of its members discussing the content of the 95 articles of the initiative”.
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Margarita Cabello, attorney general
Attorney’s Office
Furthermore, he highlighted that the untimely presentation of the proposal to adopt the Senate text prevented congressmen from having sufficient time to consult and rationally analyze the provisions that would be the subject of deliberation, which compromised the seriousness and transparency of the legislative process.
The Attorney General also stressed that the time limitations to intervene (two minutes per spokesperson for each political party), added to the pressure to vote quickly, prevented adequate deliberation, especially on an issue as complex and technical as the pension system, which affects directly the fundamental rights of the population.
Likewise, he questioned the Board of Directors’ refusal to extend the time for deliberation and the lack of willingness to listen to the opposition. Although several congressmen requested more space to discuss the reform, those requests were rejected and the debate was closed prematurely, affecting the democratic principle, which requires an open and plural discussion.
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The Attorney General highlighted that, although the proposal to accept the text approved by the Senate included a series of statements aimed at justifying the rapid deliberation, “In practice, the minimum conditions did not exist to carry out a rigorous, thoughtful and democratic discussion of the initiative in the plenary session of the House of Representatives”.
In this context, he stressed that the debates carried out in both the Senate of the Republic and the House of Representatives have the same weight in the process of approving bills, so none of them can be avoided. In effect, each one must be carried out, since this ensures compliance with the ‘consecutivity’ ordered by our Political Charter (article 157)..
Due to the above, the head of the Public Ministry asked the Constitutional Court to declare the unenforceability of the law in its entirety, because a defect was created that constitutional jurisprudence has considered insurmountable, by affecting a structural element of the legislative process, which is deliberation. in each chamber.
PORTFOLIO
