Walter Gutierrez Asks Judges to Provide Scope of Ordinance That Allows Congressmen to Generate Costs

Former ombudsman Walter Gutierrez cited a Constitutional Court ruling opening the door for congressmen to pass spending-generating laws. Justices of the peace interpreted Article 79 of the Constitution and they have untied their hands so that parliamentary projects have purchasing power, which the Magna Carta itself forbids. With this in mind, Gutiérrez indicated that it is necessary to ask TC members to clarify the scope of the ruling in the future in order to avoid misunderstandings.

“We must ask the Court to take every opportunity in the future to clarify, well qualify the volumebecause, since words are a source of misunderstanding, we may not be interpreting what he meant. What will happen, what can happen, is that congressmen start multiplying rules with economic content; that is, they generate spending for this and the next budget. And that will hit the economy hard. That we are entering a period of normative spending inflation and creating the illusion that the multiplication of rights is actually the creation of rights. This is not true. In the end, the rights themselves will be degraded (…). Congressmen need to understand that the ruling is a signal to the market, and magistrates need to understand that their sentences are signals to the market,” he told RPP News Extension.

“In order to have more rights, the economy must grow. For the economy to grow, there must be investment. For there to be investment, there must be legal certainty. In order to have legal certainty, good regulatory and judicial signals must be given.”. added.

The cornerstone of the economy

In addition, Gutiérrez said that denying the Congress of the Republic solvency has been a cornerstone of the strength of the Peruvian economy in recent years.

“In fact, this is not one resolution, not one proposal. It’s about two things. One from 2021 on collective bargaining. Another from a few days ago about the reform of the healthcare system, where the Legislator clearly violates Article 79 of the Criminal Code. Constitution and generates expenses not only in this, but also in future budget years. It is prohibited by article 79 of the Constitution and is the cornerstone or one of the foundations of the soundness of the economy. over the past twenty plus years, which allowed Peru to face the 2008 crisis as well as the pandemic, and now it may, if we manage to maintain this fiscal balance, this spending cut initiative, we can also face a food crisis and a recession. that we will face all over the world,” he said.

Finally, he explained how the TC came to that conclusion and urged the magistrates to reconsider their decision in order to balance the budget.

“An action for unconstitutionality has been filed and the Court has interpreted this to the extent that it does not affect the current budget, therefore, the correct interpretation, in their view, of this Article 79 is not affected. It is true that they are progressive in the distribution of the budget, it is true that they also indicated that the MEF should have an opinion on these matters, but it should be noted that in the case of health they have proposed that the budget be 8% of GDP. “There are concepts that are elusive, and it seems that it is necessary to speak with justices of the peace in order to be able to maintain a cap on spending initiative and budgetary balance,” he concluded.