MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

End of the “submission taboo”.

Argentine Chief of cabinet said that President Nestor Kirchner ended the “submission taboo” towards the International Monetary Fund, IMF that ruled Argentina's relations with the multilateral credit organization during the nineties

Mr. Alberto Fernández pointed out that there's an ongoing debate regarding the extent of the incidence of multilateral organizations such as the IMF, in the region's countries policies and institutions.

The issue cropped up again when Uruguayan president Jorge Batlle in a television interview revealed that in July 2002, in the midst of the country's worst bank run and financial crisis, IMF's Deputy Managing Director Mr. Eduadro Aninat suggested that Mr. Batlle, as happened in Argentina with former president Fernando De la Rúa, should consider a default and resign office.

Mr. Batlle refused point blank the IMF hard line suggestion (defaulting and calling new presidential elections) arguing it was the worst course of action at the worst moment. Time proved Mr. Batlle right since Uruguay was bailed out by the United States Treasury and early this year it rescheduled most of its foreign debt by extending the maturing date of bonds.

Commenting on the issue Mr. Fernández said there are two possible attitudes to this type of challenge: full submission to IMF proposals, "the taboo under which Argentina lived in the nineties"; and "President Kirchner's attitude when he clearly outlined the exact limits of how far the negotiation could extend".

Mr. Fernández said that something similar applies to relations with United States.

"There's also the taboo that it's not possible to exist unless you have a systematic agreement with Washington which in Argentina's case was described as "automatic alignment" or "carnal relations", which is a wrongly focused logic", said Mr. Fernández.

The Argentine Chief of cabinet remarked that it's not a question of "having a confrontational attitude towards the United States, but rather a mature relation, in which the main objective in to search for convergence points that are convenient for Argentina".

Mr. Fernández said that President Kirchner will be talking with European leaders on the same basis and content, because "the president does not have different speeches for different occasions. He's straightforward".

However Mr. Fernández cautioned that there are "different situations" in relations with European countries, "since not all represent for Argentina what the IMF represents today".