Contrato Administrativo de Interés Público en Colombia: Solidez jurídica en sus requisitos para el otorgamiento de subvenciones - Una mirada al criterio europeo de subvención estatal

Abstract

In Colombia there is no clear regulation on subsidies. Article 355 of the Colombian Political Constitution conceived the figure of the contract with non-profit private entities of recognized suitability, in order to promote programs and activities of public interest. This constitutional figure of "public interest contract" can be understood as a form of administrative promotion, public aid and / or subsidy. However, the regulations on the matter have been confusing, insufficient and conceptually unclear. This article aims to analyze the legal strength that the constitutional and administrative contract of public interest may have for the granting of subsidies in Colombia, based on a comparison with the European criterion of state subsidy. A systematic review of the Colombian and European literature in Spanish was carried out on the concept and requirements of the subsidies, applying search formulas that included key terms associated with the objective of the study. There is a strong legal relationship between the administrative contract of public interest established in Colombian legislation and the concept of subsidy referred to in European law. In Colombia, the subsidy has as its main vehicle the public interest administrative contract. The public interest contract is a legal figure that channels or serves as an instrument for the granting of subsidies in the integral sense of European regulations. However, this matter in Colombia has not been clear, precisely because the constitutional figure has not been regulated in a special, separated and autonomous way. Colombian legislation lacks legal strength regarding the requirements for granting subsidies. The requirements established for the origin of the administrative contract of public interest and, therefore, for the granting of subsidies, are confusing, are not conceptually clear and their regulatory development is insufficient and distances them from the essence of the figure conceived in the Article 355 of the Colombian Constitution.