The deputies are summoned this Wednesday, July 29, to an extraordinary session that has among its agenda items a proposal that seeks to mitigate the rise in fuel prices. The billIt still generates doubts and does not have unanimous support in the benches.
Last Friday, July 24, President Bernardo Arévalo announced on a national network that they would be presenting a bill, in order to approve a new fuel subsidy in force until the end of 2026.
The proposal reached Congress last Monday, July 27, but not by President Arévalo, but with the signature of pro-government deputies, the minority group loyal to the canceled Semilla Movement.
The suggestion proposes a budget readjustment for Q3,480 million, which seeks an economic contribution of Q12 per gallon of diesel and Q3 per gallon of regular gasoline.
The initiative was announced as the most immediate solution against the current cost of fuel, but was not well received in the Legislative Body, since, to date, no party publicly supports it.
The plenary session is scheduled for 10 a.m., where sources attribute that the ruling party will seek to promote its national emergency initiative, avoid the ruling and an almost immediate implementation.
But until this Tuesday, July 28, the proposal did not have the necessary consensus, leaving the outlook expected for the extraordinary legislative session with which the Executive hopes to provide a solution to the rise in fuel prices.
There will be dialogue
President Bernardo Arévalo discussed the issue with deputies who make up the Permanent Commission of Congress, made up of members of the Board of Directors during the parliamentary recess.
They were invited to a meeting at the National Palace of Culture weeks ago, since the central topic would be to talk about the port law and the Metrorail project, but the situation changed the agenda.
The meeting, in which in addition to the president and the deputies, Jonathan Menkos, Minister of Finance, also participated, focused on the initiative that seeks a fuel subsidy, as confirmed by deputies.
Orlando Blanco, from the Voluntad Oportunidad y Solidaridad (VOS) group, said that they were completely clear with the president, telling him that the initiative comes without agreements.
“We told him that there was a lot of criticism with the first subsidy of the Q2 billion, that this had generated animosity, in that sense the initiative is going to be discussed, but there are no agreements on it,” he indicated.
Among the issues that were presented to the president is that a good part of the population seeks to eliminate taxes on fuel, since they do not trust that the subsidy will reach the distributors.
The Executive’s response would have been to defend the government’s proposal, highlighting that it is the one that provides an immediate solution to the high price of gasoline and diesel.
“We explained to him that there are no agreements at this time and that a strong and broad discussion is expected in Congress, but if no agreements are reached we would call all the parties to a dialogue table,” Blanco noted.
They analyze the proposal
Deputy Elmer Palencia, deputy of the Valor bench, did not dare to answer directly whether they will be supporting the official proposal, although he acknowledged that it is necessary to provide a solution for the affected families.
“We are willing to discuss whether it is for a readjustment, to see if the proposed values are those that will really help the population and identify the sources of financing,” explained the deputy.
Palencia stressed that a subsidy is not a real solution to the problem, he even highlighted that in the medium term they could think of a sustainable solution such as a compensatory fund that responds to future extraordinary increases.
There is already an initiative of this type in Congress under registration number 6726, which according to Palencia is already being analyzed for an opinion in two legislative commissions.
“What we are looking for is that there is a response from Congress tomorrow (today) to address this emergency, we understand that there are many families that are having a bad time and we must try to find a way to address this as soon as possible,” he indicated.
They seek support
The official leaders of Congress, Victoria Palala and José Carlos Sanabria, also participated in the meeting. The latter considered the meeting positive as it allowed them to discuss a topic of national interest.
“It is a necessary and positive space for the relationship between State agencies, we hope to continue building consensus to have a solution to the fuel crisis,” said Sanabria.
The deputy, far from cataloging the discussion of the initiative before a congress without agreements, considers that they are in a “construction” process, since they are precisely looking for dialogue that will allow them to obtain votes.
“It is a scenario that is being built, consensus is always being built and we are talking with the different blocks,” recognizing that they do seek support to promote the national emergency initiative.
While the ruling party hopes to achieve approval in a single session, groups that move votes within Congress such as Valor, Cabal and the National Unity of Hope (UNE) are still analyzing the initiative without ensuring possible support for the proposal.