2024-07-12 17:46:06
In a recent exchange of statements, former President Iván Duque Márquez expressed his rejection of the proposal of the current President, Gustavo Petro, to resume the ‘fast track’.
This mechanism, used in 2016 to adjust the Colombian regulatory framework to the peace agreement, has generated intense controversy. Duque stated that the ‘fast track’ is no longer in force and accused the National Government of trying to use it to speed up the approval of its social reforms.
“Pay attention to this plan:“Talking about reforms today is not a whim of the President”: Petro
The so-called ‘reforms of change’ will be presented as mechanisms linked to the process with the FARC, pretending that they are part of the implementation of the peace agreement.
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Given that the government’s time is running out, they will try to justify using the ‘fast track’ to approve these ‘change reforms’.
With the ‘fast track’, they seek to reduce the time in the legislative agenda and impose the government’s agenda.
However, they forget that, thanks to the lawsuit we won in 2017 before the Constitutional Court, the ‘fast track’ in force no longer exists. Therefore, they will have to move forward with a legislative act, which requires eight debates, to reform the Constitution. They are looking for a spurious mechanism to weaken the legislative process and, in this way, weaken Congress, replacing the Constitution. We have already defeated these abuses once and we will do it as many times as necessary,” declared Iván Duque.
President Gustavo Petro was quick to respond to these accusations. In a conciliatory tone, he invited Duque to build a national agreement to achieve peace in Colombia.
“Of course you hit the ‘fast track’ because you wanted to shatter peace. You only partially succeeded. I invite you, Duque, to build a national agreement to make peace in Colombia a reality. Our society is tired of the bloodshed. What is wrong with our peasants living under a Social State of Law? “, said Petro.
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