PAC Agrees With
Government To Move Ahead
Quickly on the "Agenda
de Implementación"
The Poder Ejecutivo
(government) and the
Partido Acción Ciudadana
(PAC) - opposition party
- appear to have come
closer to allow the
speedy passage of the "parellel
laws" required to be
passed by the
Legislative Assembly for
the Tratado de Libre
Comercio (TLC) - free
trade agreement with the
United States and
Central America - can
take effect.
The announcement came
after Costa Rican
president, Oscar Arias,
and his brother,
Rodrigo, the ministro de
la Presidencia, met with
the heads of the PAC
party, Elizabeth Fonseca
and Rafael Elias
Madrigal.
The TLC must be ratified
by March 1, 2008 unless
a postponement is
obtained by the signing
members to the agreement
- The U.S., Nicaragua,
El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras and the
Dominican Republic -
failing which Costa Rica
will not be eligible to
be part of the trade
pact in Central America.
The PAC has been using
stalling tactics to slow
down the legislative
process to approve the
series of "parallel
laws", to date only four
of the 13 laws have been
approved - as it opposes
the trade deal.
"It was a positive
meeting. We discussed
the different options to
move forward the process
and coincided on the
fact that we have wasted
much time talking about
the TLC and is not to
flip over the page and
think about other things
that are important for
the country", said
minister Arias.
Arias explained that the
PAC party members of the
legislature and the
government will do their
outmost to get the
"agenda de
implementación" approved
within 90 days after the
end of February, which
is within the time legal
time frame which the
country has to put the
TLC into force.
One of the main stalling
tactics of the PAC is to
not have enough members
in the legislature to
form a quorum. According
to Arias, the PAC has
agreed to end that
tactic and allow the
sessions to be held.
Arias added that the
government will do all
it can to get the
"agenda" approved within
the 90 days that the
Procuraduría General de
la República (Attorney
General) says is the
legal time frame allowed
under the trade deal.
Minister Arias said that
part of the discussions
was that the government
was going to present a
number of legislative
bills important to the
PAC, like the Banca de
Desarrollo (development
bank), Seguridad
(security) and Reformas
Electorals (election
reforms), the last of
which belongs to the
group of parallel laws.
One of the issues
concerning the PAC are
the radio, newspaper and
television commericals
blaming the PAC for the
slow process of getting
the agenda approved,
reminding the public
that the TLC was voted
by referendum and that
the wishes of the public
must be respected by all
political parties.
Arias reminded the PAC
leaders that the public
campaign is headed by
the Grupo Costa Rica,
which is made up of
economists, businessmen
and professionals and
that the government has
no influence over their
decisions. |
|
