Constitutional Court Magistrate Carlos Camargo filed a ponencia to provisionally strike down the economic emergency decree issued by the Government on December 22, 2025. He argues that it fails to meet constitutional requirements for a sudden and unforeseeable crisis, aiming to prevent irreversible effects while the case is decided on merits. Business groups like Fenalco and the National Business Council back this view, while President Gustavo Petro warns of a fiscal crisis if suspended.
Colombia's Constitutional Court faces a pivotal week to decide the fate of Decree 1390 of 2025, which declared an economic emergency for 30 days starting December 22, 2025. Magistrate Carlos Camargo, the case rapporteur, filed a multi-page ponencia proposing its provisional suspension. According to Camargo, the Government failed to demonstrate a grave, sudden, and unforeseeable crisis justifying extraordinary powers in the Executive, as the issues cited, such as fiscal difficulties and the Health Capitation Payment Unit (UPC), are structural and predictable.
"It would not suffice to point to fiscal, budgetary, or social difficulties; the Government should prove that these cannot be addressed through ordinary laws," the ponencia states. Camargo warns that using the emergency as an administrative shortcut undermines Congress's role and could produce irreversible legal effects on tax and regulatory measures adopted under the decree.
Business groups bolster this critique. Fenalco, in a 35-page document led by Jaime Alberto Cabal, states the emergency "inevitably" heads to unconstitutionality, citing the Court's Sentence C-383 of 2023. They highlight that five invoked causes, such as the UPC, judicial sentence payments, energy subsidies, and fiscal restrictions, are not supervenient events. "The obligation to comply with the Court's Order on the UPC is a chronic and structural fact, not supervenient," Fenalco expounds.
The National Business Council, in a document over 45 pages, refutes that national security deterioration justifies the measure, as they are chronic issues. They estimate the UPC creates a $3.3 trillion contingency but insist it does not enable exceptional powers.
Meanwhile, President Gustavo Petro defends the decree and criticizes Camargo's ponencia. "Magistrate Camargo does not believe, but he will be co-responsible for an unnecessary fiscal crisis," Petro stated, proposing that the rich return unnecessary subsidies like those for fuels. He advocates a Keynesian policy to stimulate internal demand and pay debt through production, questioning the Banco de la República's high interest rates.
The Court must first resolve the recusal of President Jorge Enrique Ibáñez by the Government. Another ponencia by Juan Carlos Cortés suggests partial suspension, freezing indirect taxes like the 19% VAT on alcoholic beverages and online bets, but keeping direct ones like wealth tax over $2 million. The Government, through Finance Minister Germán Ávila, prepares an extension of up to 90 days. If suspension is accepted, issued decrees would be paused until the final ruling.
