Government Invites PAC
To Dialogue
Following Sunday's
referendum vot, the
government has called a
first meeting with the
Partido Acción Ciudadana
(PAC), who is opposed to
the free trade deal, to
discuss the parallel
laws that compliment the
Tratado de Libre
Comercio (TLC).
The invitation came from
Rodrigo Arias, ministro
de la Presidencia and
brother to president
Oscar Arias, last Monday
afternoon as the
Tribunal Supremo de
Elecciones (TSE)
continues to tally the
remaining votes of
Sunday's referendum vote
that gave approval to
ratify the trade deal by
51.6% of voters.
Ottón Solís, leader of
the PAC and a promoter
of the "No" campaign,
said that he would meet
with the government that
is set for Wednesday,
October 10, to listen to
the governments proposal
and agenda though his
party is still against
the implementation of
the trade deal and the
parallel laws.
The 12 parallel laws are
to strengthen the
position of the
Instituto Costarricense
de Electricidad (ICE)
and Instituto Nacional
de Seguros (INS) as
their monopolies on
telecommunications and
insurance are broken,
paving the way for
foreign and domestic
competition.
The parallel laws must
be approved before the
TLC can go into effect,
which Costa Rica has
until March 1, 2008 to
implement.
Yesterday, the 15
legislators of the
Partido Liberación
Nacional (PLN) - ruling
party - returned to
their legislative desks
after a week of
absenteeism.
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