2020News

National Budget was irregularly passed, says National Awareness Movement

A group of citizens filed two appeals of unconstitutionality against the 2020 National Budget (Law 506-19) and complementary Law 512-19 that authorized the Executive Branch to issue securities. The 2020 budget law authorizes the Ministry of Hacienda to issue and place the public debt. Citizens Eulogio Santaella, Federico Lalane José, Leopoldo Franco Barrera, Jaime Ricardo Fernández, Chery Jiménez Alfau and Emmanuel Esquea Guerrero, who belong to the non-partisan political movement, National Awareness Movement (Conciencia Nacional), maintain that the National Budget Law was passed violating the Constitution.

They explained that the Senate on 12 December 2019 submitted the budget for approval in two different sessions on the same day. The citizens say that the required 24 hours between one approval and the other was not respected. The Constitutional Court had ruled on this issue in sentence TC/0274-13.

The citizens also allege that the Chamber of Deputies passed Law 512-19 authorizing debt placement on the 19th and 21st without the legislative debates that the Constitution mandates.

The plaintiffs asked the Constitutional Court to declare these laws null and void because of the various violations committed by the legislators.

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20 January 2020