Uruguay: Leftist Party Presents Proposal To Reject Budget Bill

Uruguay's left-wing Broad Front (BF) presented a document at the Senate on Monday in order to reform the 2020-2024 Budget Bill which they claim establishes several cuts in basic policies, such as education, health care, and the administration of justice.

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"The 2020-2024 Budget presented by the Executive Branch and approved by the Coalition in the Lower Chamber turns its back on the needs of the great majorities, does not address the economic and social urgencies generated by the pandemic and, finally, is not up to the challenges that put a strain on society, both in our country and in the rest of the world, at all levels and as rarely seen in other historical periods," BF representatives said.

The BF document established also a set of transparency measures "so that Parliament and citizens have basic information to strengthen the quality of the budget discussion and the monitoring of public policies."

"This government, which has talked so much about transparency, loses the opportunity to act according to its discourse and denies the Parliament and the citizens the possibility of having basic information, which in every democratic society should be an unquestionable right," BF noted.

In October, the Lower Chamber opened a debate on the Budget Bill that had 723 articles, more than half of which were subjected to discrepancies.

One of the objectives of the Bill is to reduce the fiscal deficit from 5.7 percent in 2020 to 4.4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2024.  Representatives of the left sectors expressed that the Bill was a program of conservative restoration by the neoliberal right who was promoting cuts in social areas, education, health, and housing sectors.

The government coalition made up of the National Party (NP), the Colorado Party (CP), the Cabildo Abierto (CA), the Independent Party (IP) and the People's Party (PP) is promoting the Bill.