As expected, the legal offensive against the Colombian government’s “economic emergency” decree under Gustavo Petro began just days after the administration announced the filing of the measure. The lawsuit submitted to the Corte Constitucional not only challenges the legality of a decision taken to address the fiscal imbalance, but also places the debate at the center of the presidential pre-campaign, where every move counts and every statement is measured through an electoral lens.
The standoff comes after Congress refused to approve the tax reform through which the executive hoped to secure an increase in revenues for 2026 of nearly 16 trillion pesos (approximately US$4.2 billion). That shortfall threw next year’s general budget out of balance, despite the plenary session of Congress’s initial commitment to negotiate a reform after approving the budget framework for the coming year.
This situation led the government to resort to the exceptional mechanism, which it has already used on previous occasions, such as during the La Guajira crisis, and which at that time was rejected by the high court. In this regard, and as expected in the midst of an electoral pre-campaign, the opposition’s response has gone far beyond criticizing the government’s decision: Right-wing pre-candidate Abelardo De la Espriella took the decree to the high court and turned a technical discussion into a high-voltage political episode.
De la Espriella calls on court to strike down government’s ‘economic emergency’
The brief filed by Abelardo De la Espriella argues that the government overstepped its authority by declaring an “economic emergency” to cover a deficit that, in his view, stems from political decisions rather than from an unforeseen event. The central thesis holds that the Constitution reserves this tool for unpredictable and serious situations that threaten the economic order, and that the lack of legislative consensus cannot be equated with a calamity that enables extraordinary powers.
In the same document, the populist candidate also challenged the sale planned by the government — without a public auction — of Treasury Securities (TES) to a single foreign buyer for a value of 23 trillion pesos (approximately US$6 billion) at a rate of 13.15%.
“We filed two lawsuits in the first hour of today, Monday, Dec. 22, against the illegalities, abuses, and corruption of the Gustavo Petro regime,” De la Espriella wrote on his account on the social media platform X, attaching an explanation of both lawsuits filed earlier in the morning.
In the first case — the “economic emergency” decree — the right-wing candidate says that it is “unconstitutional, insofar as it is not based on supervening or extraordinary events that could alter the country’s economic situation.” In addition, De la Espriella asks the Constitutional Court for the provisional suspension of the effects of the decree while the future of the Petro government’s measure is decided.
Regarding the second lawsuit, for which the candidate also requested precautionary suspension, it was argued that the action seeks to safeguard the “collective rights and interests of public patrimony and administrative morality” and alleges possible violations of the principle of “plurality of bidders and publicity.”
Les comparto a todos los compatriotas que, como Defensores de la Patria, interpusimos dos demandas en la primera hora de hoy, lunes 22 de diciembre, contra las ilegalidades, tropelías y la corrupción del régimen de Gustavo Petro. Ellas son:
1. Acción de inconstitucionalidad…
— Abelardo De La Espriella (@ABDELAESPRIELLA) December 22, 2025
The economy as an electoral battleground in Colombia
Despite being, arguably, the most notable aspect of the Petro government’s record — according to various studies and international benchmarks — the economy is, alongside the failed peace talks with armed groups, the opposition’s main battleground for next year’s election campaign.
While the conservative majority in Congress systematically blocks any desperate initiative by the ruling coalition to balance 2026 figures that threaten to push the deficit to unsustainable levels — potentially even jeopardizing the state’s obligations, such as external debt payments — the executive branch defends the decree as a necessary tool precisely to ensure the continuity of the state and to meet basic obligations in a context of fiscal tightness.
President Gustavo Petro has insisted that the blocking of tax reform left the country facing a real risk of defaults and abrupt cuts, and that the emergency seeks to temporarily put the accounts in order while the political landscape is reconfigured.
What the court decides will determine not only the validity of measures aimed at readjusting revenues and spending in 2026, but also the institutional message regarding the limits between the executive and the legislature, now inexorably locked in an electoral fight, just three months before the March 8 legislative elections.
The conservative candidate’s lawsuit also raises a precedent: Whether the failure to approve a key reform can or cannot justify the activation of exceptional powers. At its core, the debate is about who bears the political cost of a budget unsupported by new resources.
Slimming down the state: a recipe copied from the global right
The judicial challenge to the decree, beyond being part of the pre-campaign, represents a political opportunity for Abelardo De la Espriella, currently the most favored right-wing candidate in the polls. In fact, with this move, the independent candidate of the populist right is copying the models of the global right: the forced slimming down of the state.
His move before the court allows him to gain visibility and position himself as an institutional counterweight, a role that resonates with an electorate tired of polarization and skeptical of exceptional measures. But above all, it allows him to present himself as Colombia’s leading exponent of this conservative trend to reduce the state to its bare minimum, in favor of the private sector — precisely the opposite of what the government and the continuity candidate of the left, Ivan Cepeda, De la Espriella’s main electoral rival, are seeking.
The government’s response was swift. Voices close to the executive labeled the lawsuit an act of electoral opportunism and defended the decree’s constitutionality. The exchange foreshadows a campaign in which the economy will be the central axis and the legality of decisions the terrain of dispute. The court, in this sense, is placed at the center of the stage, with a ruling that will have an impact beyond the legal realm.
Meanwhile, the country watches. The deficit remains, the budget awaits decisions, and politics accelerates. De la Espriella’s lawsuit encapsulates a moment: A government under pressure from the numbers, an opposition sensing opportunity, and a pre-campaign already being fought in the courts. The constitutional verdict will determine whether the emergency was a valid remedy or an excess, but the political effect is already underway.