Panama is leaving the PARLACEN, and may I add, finally. The Minister for Foreign Affairs reported recently that should those countries that oppose the departure (by PARLACEN rules, if one single country opposes the exit of another member state, the latter is barred from quitting) do not withdraw their objections, Panama would leave the organization unilaterally.
Now, the process through which Panama would do that is highly dubious. The Government would be invalidating the original bill through which Panama’s National Assembly ratified the PARLACEN treaty.
Regardless, this is a momentous occasion. The PARLACEN has shown, in my opinion, to be needless bureaucracy and as far as I can tell, my life as a citizen of Panama is no better after our adherence to the PARLACEN than before.
Now, I ask, could we please get the money we will stop paying PARLACEN members back as a tax rebate. Rather than waste that money in unnecessary government expenditure, why not hand it back and let the private economy deal with it in the most efficient way?
Most likely it won’t happen, but that’s alright. In my opinion, leaving the PARLACEN is good news for all Panamanians.
When you think about it, it is outrageous how the people at office actually dared to sign a treaty where others would decide whether they would let them quit the organization or not.
ReplyDeleteIt is sort of like voluntarily asking someone to hold you slave. Plain Non-sense!
Not only that, but the PARLACEN treaty, though ratified by the Nat'l Assembly, was not approved by the people at large. To my knowledge, there was no referendum or plebiscite at all.
ReplyDeleteThe National Assembly has the constitutional right to do such things, but constitutionality, though it must be followed as the law of the land, must not be considered to make things right, correct or moral.