Congress backtracks and withdraws from the agenda the initiative that seeks to create a “superministry” of Environment
The Block Chiefs Instance of the Congress of the Republic had scheduled that this Wednesday, October 5, the initiative that seeks to create the “Law that Places the Institutions of Environmental Competence under the Coordination of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources”; however, the day’s agenda was modified at the last minute.
Initiative 6054, which was proposed on March 22 by the president of Congress, Shirley Rivera, has been criticized by social sectors for trying to liquidate several institutions linked to the environment, in fact, Last Tuesday, eight block chiefs tried to remove it from the agenda, but they did not obtain the necessary support.
However, this Wednesday the deputy Álvaro Arzú Escobar again presented a proposal to remove it from the agenda, and unlike Tuesday, now if he got 33 votes in favor, with what was no longer known in plenary.
If said law is approved, institutions such as the National Council of Protected Areas (Conap), the National Institute of Forests (Inab), the Office of Control of State Reserve Areas (Ocret) and the four authorities of the Atitlán lakes will be liquidated. , Amatitlán, Izabal-Río Dulce and Petén Itzá, in addition to giving the Ministry of the Environment control over some Q900 million of the state budget.
At the discretion of Arzú Escobar, there is “rejection” widespread on the part of several sectors and it is not prudent to know it at this time.
For this initiative to be included in the agenda, it will depend on if the instance of Heads of Block the agenda next Tuesday for the following session on Wednesday.
Other initiatives advance
However, the deputies did learn in the second debate about the initiative that seeks to create a new State Procurement Law and suppress the current one, and that as main changes it contemplates an extension of the ceilings so that government entities make direct purchases that lend themselves to discretion.
They also learned in second reading the initiative that seeks to approve the “Temporary Law of Integral Development” that contemplates a payment of Q36 thousand for a period of three years to Army veterans, through an environmental program, and that has generated discord among the ex-military groups.
In both cases, the initiatives are only one step away from being known at third reading, where the deputies should vote.
