With 38 votes in favor and 23 against the Senate passed today the State Responsibility Law, which regulates individual and private company lawsuits against the state, after 4 hours of debate.
The bill, which was approved in the lower house in 2013, was rejected by all opposition forces in the Senate, but could be passed into law by the Kirchnerite caucus and allies.
The law states that State responsibility is “objective and direct,” and in its most controversial articles indicates “the Civil Code is not applicable to the State, neither are pecuniary sanctions.”
Santa Cruz Victory Front (FPV) senator Pablo González considered the law constitutes an “advance” and blasted opposition critiques by saying “some political figures just like appearing on TV.”
“They said Kirchnerism is trying to guarantee impunity to its officials with the law. This is not realistic. The state will respond directly in case of its own actions and in those of its concessions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Radical Civic Union (UCR) Senator Ernesto Sanz said the law “hurts the people who should be the main beneficiaries, citizens.”
“They are taking judicial tools away from the citizen to litigate against the state,” he added.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald