Buenos Aires, December 18 (NA) – Due to insufficient support and the decrease in the number of national deputies remaining in the chamber early Thursday morning, the session in the Chamber of Deputies was adjourned, and the bill on the National Commitment for Fiscal and Monetary Stability, promoted by the Government, was not discussed. The bill, which received a committee report, prohibits the passage of laws that do not have guaranteed funding and establishes penalties of up to six years in prison for officials who apply those norms. The initiative was flatly rejected by the opposition from Unión por la Patria, the left, and Provincias Unidas, and even received criticism from allies of PRO and UCR. In this context, national deputy for La Libertad Avanza, Silvana Giudici, requested the suspension of the session. Radical deputy Lisandro Nieri said that “there is a conviction of a monetary and fiscal order. It is clear that we must leave that in writing, and that is what the Fiscal and Monetary Commitment Law seeks,” but he pointed out that it is necessary to “work with more seriousness.” “That law is important, but I aspire for us to give ourselves more time to work on this case,” he added. In turn, deputy Karina Banfi stated that the Fiscal Commitment project “does not respect the basic principles of the separation of powers.” “It delegates powers to the Executive Branch that are inherent to Congress and creates criminal types that do not withstand a constitutionality analysis, among many other legal-technical errors,” she added. On Tuesday, the head of the UxP bloc, Germán Martínez, had demanded that this initiative also be analyzed in the Penal Legislation Committee since it includes modifications to the penal code. Details The project establishes that “the passage of a general budget law that contemplates a deficitary financial result is prohibited.” One of the most outstanding data points of the project is the severe sanctions it applies to national officials. In this sense, the project states that “it will be punished with one to six years in prison the official who violates the norms established in the National Commitment Law for Fiscal and Monetary Stability.” Throughout the project, the head of the Cabinet is empowered to use an adjustment mechanism to avoid putting fiscal equilibrium at risk. In this regard, it states that “if during the execution of the budget there is a decrease in the projected resources or an increase in expenses above the original estimates that puts at risk the fulfillment of the rule provided for in article 1°, the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers will adopt the necessary measures to restore said equilibrium.” Furthermore, the initiative establishes that any law that “authorizes expenditures not contemplated in the general budget will begin to apply once the corresponding items are expressly included in the general budget law of the fiscal year following its sanction.” It determines that exempt from that obligation will be laws where funding is “ensured through the allocation of concrete, specific, current, and sufficient resources, without affecting the balanced financial result.” It also establishes that all projects prior to their consideration in committee must have a medium-term budgetary impact report, which in the case of government initiatives will be prepared by the Ministry of Economy and in the case of legislative initiatives by the Congressional Budget Office. Another point is that it establishes that any norm issued in violation of the provisions of this law will be declared null.
