A group of citizens hopes that very soon the referendum to end RECOPE’s oil monopoly can take place, so that Costa Ricans are the ones who decide if the Costa Rican Oil Refinery (RECOPE) should stand alone or be opened to competition.
We have a project to open hydorcarbons monopoly in the Legislature to be submitted to the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), so that, after its approval, we can begin collecting signatures,”
said Mauricio Sánchez, one of the organizers of the recent demonstration against RECOPE.
However, the pace of the project is slow. It was presented to the TSE last April, and was later submitted to the technical services department of the Legislature. After the consultation process and once a report is issued, the project will return to the TSE.
According to Andrei Cambronero, from the TSE,
With the report, the TSE will have to conduct a study to determine whether authorizing the collection of signatures is feasible or not.”
Some of the points to be analyzed is that the project does not contain the elements restricted by Article 105 of the Constitution, according to which a referendum will not be held if the projects are related to budgetary, tax, fiscal, monetary or credit issues, as well as pension security, approval of loans and contracts or acts of an administrative nature.