Discarding any candidacy, Camilo Escalona, former senator and current secretary general of the Socialist Party (PS), expressed his apprehensions with the Commission of Experts and the Technical Committee on Admissibility, two of the three organs of the new constituent process. Both will be appointed by Congress and, while the first will prepare a draft that will be delivered to the Constitutional Council – elected by the citizens – the second will review the norms approved in the two previous instances.
“I think we have to warn that the use of the powers of the Expert Commission beyond what is prudent can affect the legitimacy of the result,” said the historic militant of the PS, in conversation with El Mercurio. In his opinion, “the Expert Commission can play a great role for its prudence and be able to generate a great disaster if it takes the path of imprudence.”
Escalona notes the same with respect to the Technical Committee on Admissibility. “If it lowers the complex of becoming a kind of last word, interpretative of what is done or not done, it can also cause a derailment of this train,” he said.
Asked if he shares the idea that if this new constituent process fails, the attempts will end and the current Magna Carta remains in force, the socialist leader said that “that is the reason why we signed the agreement. You can’t fail, but nobody has to blackmail with it.”
“Because it fails for us but also for the right; no one can put the interlocutor in an irreversible situation because the impact of the avalanche that occurs can crush us all later,” added who was also president of the Senate (2012-2013).
For Camilo Escalona, “the impact that occurs when institutional crises get out of control cannot be calculated.” Therefore, “all actors must have the responsibility that circumstances demand of us.”
Faced with the possibility of integrating any of the organs of the constituent process, the former parliamentarian said that he has long thought about not being a candidate. “I’ve thought about it from the previous process because people were fed the conviction that experienced people were no longer useful, and people were convinced of that. So this is the same as the candidacies for national prosecutor. Submitting to public derision because one wants to collaborate with the Constitutional Council is not pleasant.”
In any case, Escalona said that he was not completely satisfied with the agreement for the new constituent process, but that his sector had no alternative. Despite this, he rejected the possibility of changing what was agreed. “It is not possible to unilaterally modify the commitment, there is no way. In other words, there are going to be things that will have to be sought by common agreement (…) That is, what is best for the process and all parties pick it up is fine, but it is not possible by the sole will of one of the actors to modify what is already signed, “he told the newspaper.
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