THE EXERCISE OF ADMINISTRATIVE BRANCH AND THE CHALLENGE OF THE NEUTRALITY OF PUBLIC BRANCH

In the 1950s, Ernst Forsthoff in his “Administrative Law Treatise” said that the neutrality of public power was essential in order to corroborate the overcoming of the absolutist idea that had preceded the States and the formation of administrative apparatuses. A lag that is still present today, even more so in situations of extreme urgency, or in discussions that return to the original suspicion among public authorities.

Por lo que tiene que ver con el primer aspecto, vale la pena recordar que el artículo 12 de la Declaración de 1789 nos decía: “The guarantee of the rights of man and of the citizen requires a public force; this force is therefore instituted for the benefit of all and not for the benefit of those to whom it is entrusted”.

When projecting this precept in times of pandemic, it is found that the administrative powers with which governments have been invested have undoubtedly been guided by the general interest, by the well-being of all, by the protection of the rights of those administered. However, the administrator has questioned the exercise of these powers, and has shown reluctance, perhaps because the public administration has not been able to adequately convey the message with which each of its decisions is covered: primacy of the general interest, of the welfare of all and solidarity.