Legislators Bogged With
Motions To Stall
Approval of TLC Parallel
Laws
With a little over two
months to go before the
March 1 date for the
Tratado de Libre
Comercio (TLC) - free
trade agreement with the
United States to go into
force, legislators have
only approved the third
of the "parallel" laws
required.
It appears the
legislature has been
overrun by motions and
has slowed down the
process in approving the
remaining 11 before the
deadline.
The government has taken
out television and
newspaper ads to make
the public aware of the
problem, telling them
that the legislators are
trying to circumvent the
will of the people,
failing to approve the
parallel laws in a
timely manner after the
people decided by
referendum on October 7,
2007 to approve the
trade deal.
It appears that
opposition legislators
are trying to dampen the
coalition of 38
legislators who have
said are in agreement
with the TLC.
So, motions, counter
motions and then some
more motions, including
threats of appeals to
the Sala Constitucional
(Constitutional Court),
all in an effort to
stall the proceedings,
are the tools being used
by opposition
legislators.
One of those is
legislator, Óscar López,
of the Partido
Accesibilidad Sin
Exclusión (PASE), who,
in agreement with José
Merino, of the Frente
Amplio, and legislators
of the Partido Acción
Ciudadana (PAC), feel
the process
unconstitutional and
that they are being
pressured to pass laws
that are not in the best
interest of the people.
"I hope the magistrates
of the Sala
Constitucionals will not
be pressured by Casa
Presidencial, nor the
private business
sector", said López.
An appeal to the
Constitutional Court
will take at least a
month to be resolved,
meanwhile the parallel
laws cannot go into
second and final debate
required for approval. |
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