Faced with the blow that the appointment of César Ferrari as director of the National Planning Department (DNP) fell within the national government, President Gustavo Petro moved the gears and made the decision to appoint Jorge Iván González as the new director of this important entity.
According to the profile of the new director of the National Planning Department at the Externado University, is a philosopher from the Javeriana University, with a master’s degree in economics from the Universidad de los Andes and a doctorate in economics from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. It was revealed that he carried out a doctoral thesis on public finance.
“He has dedicated himself to teaching and research. He has worked as a professor, above all, at the National and Externado universities. In the National he was dean of the Faculty of Economic Sciences and for six years he directed the Research Center for Development (CID) of said Faculty ”, it is clear from his vast resume.
In addition, Jorge Iván González joined the Externado since the beginning of the 1980s and, with some interruptions, has remained a professor at the Faculty of Economics. “The main research topics are: fiscal policy, macroeconomics, collective choice, urban dynamics and quality of life, transport tariffs, education efficiency, ethics and economics”.
It transpired that González worked with the president Gustavo Petro of the Historical Pact in the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá, becoming one of the officials who gained Petro’s trust at that time, a situation for which he chose his name for the position of director of the DNP.
It should be noted that on August 9, President Gustavo Petro announced on his Twitter account that César Ferrari was going to be the new director of National Planning.
“César Ferrari will be the director of National Planning, DNP, civil engineer from the Catholic University of Peru, master’s degree in regional and urban planning from New York University, and doctor in Economics from Boston University, current professor of economics at Javeriana”, detailed the president at that time.
Neverthelesshis appointment was on the tightrope to the point where it can no longer materialize. The issue lies in the fact that Ferrari is Peruvian by birth, Italian by blood and Colombian by adoption, that is, he has three nationalities. This condition legally prevents him from being part of Gustavo Petro’s presidential cabinet.
Some experts in constitutional law indicated that, according to the law, this appointment could not be made, since article 29 of Law 43 of 1993 specifies that in some positions such as president, vice president, senators, magistrates, attorney general, comptroller, attorney, ministers and directors of administrative departments, They will have to pay close attention to dual nationality, as it would create a limitation.
“Limitations to Colombian nationals by adoption who have dual nationality. Colombian nationals by adoption who have dual nationality will not be able to access the following public functions or positions: The references in the previous article. Congressmen (article 179, numeral 7 CN) Ministers and directors of Administrative Departments”, states the law verbatim.
Finally, SEMANA learned that Petro’s team of advisers sought legal solutions to straighten out the appointment of César Ferrari, but it was not possible. In fact, there were those who said that he had to renounce his citizenship to take office, as happened with the Colombian ambassador to the United States, who had to renounce his gringo citizenship.