In recent hours, opposition legislators pointed out an alleged violation of parliamentary privileges after a group of inspectors from the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) will present in the Legislative Palace to verify a possible non-compliance with Law 18256 that establishes the prohibition of smoking in closed public or work environments.
It all started days ago, when a letter signed by the president of the General Assembly, Carolina Cosse, who warned about the presence of cigarette butts in the Martín C. Martínez room of the Legislative Palace. The discovery, according to the text shared on social networks by the white senator Graciela Bianchi, occurred after the questioning of the Minister of Economy, Gabriel Oddone., last Monday the 22nd.
“It is appropriate to expressly reiterate that smoking is prohibited in the closed spaces of the Legislative Palace.“, reads the note dated June 24.
Cosse also asked legislators and workers to comply with the regulations, “preserving the conditions of hygiene, safety and respect for common and institutional spaces“.
The matter had a new chapter this Friday, when the presence of inspectors from the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) in the historic building.
According to the inspection report – shared by nationalist senator Sebastián da Silva on social networks – the MSP received a complaint for “non-compliance with tobacco regulations” and for “smoking in the interior patios of the Legislative Palace.”
In the MSP’s brief, the inspectors detailed that they toured “different areas on different floors,” as well as internal patios, canteens, senators’ offices, ministers’ rooms, the Martín C. Martínez room in question, the Hall of Lost Steps, both parliamentary chambers and other spaces.
They also visited the annex building, where they inspected deputies’ offices and other offices.
“Signage is observed in the different areas of the facilities, and official signs prohibiting smoking or vaping are also left,” the minutes state. And it concludes that no non-compliance with Law 18,256 was found during the visit. (2008, which prohibited smoking in these spaces).
Cosse’s letter had motivated criticism from Bianchiwho considered that That was not the way to “handle authority.” and that the correct thing would have been for the issue to be raised in the interparty coordination.
But the visit of the MSP inspectors motivated criticism from other legislators, such as the white deputy Juan Martín Rodríguez, the red Walter Verri and also Da Silva. “To hell as a public health official in the Palace,” the latter wrote in X.
Rodríguez and Verri, meanwhile, pointed out what they understand to be a violation of parliamentary jurisdiction.
The target described it as “the last straw of Big Brother” and maintained that it is a “true violation of parliamentary jurisdiction.” Verri expressed himself in the same sense and considered that the issue merited a debate in plenary due to a question of jurisdiction.
