MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mrs. Kirchner cancels trip to China: claims she can’t trust Vice-president

Cobos “does not fulfil his duties and is currently leader of the opposition”

Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced Tuesday during a press conference at the Government House that she suspended her business trip to China because she does not trust in Vice-President Julio Cobos, and accused him of trying to “block” the decisions of the Executive Branch.

“If others do not fulfil their role as they should, I will,” said the Head of State due to the possibility that the Vice-President calls for extraordinary sessions during the trip to China.

The President said that she suspends her business mission ”especially because the one who will be in charge of the Executive Branch (referring to Cobos) does not fulfil his duties because he is currently the leader of the opposition and he also blocks measures applied by the President.“

Mrs. Kirchner added that ”I must stay in the country to handle the public affairs because (I fear) any measure will be to destabilize the situation.“

The President also announced during the press conference that she will call for the creation of a bicameral committee of the Congress to debate the dismissal of the Chief of the Argentine Central Bank, Martín Redrado, but confirmed that she will not summon extraordinary sessions to analyze the creation of the Bicentennial Funds.

Mrs. Kirchner said the government will look for a ”solution according to what the opposition wants“ because that is what the CB Law states and added that it could not be done earlier due to the lack of committees at Congress.

The Committee, according to the Law, must be headed by the president of the Upper House of Congress and formed by the head of the Budget and Treasury, Economy committees and by the presidents of the Budget and Treasury and Financial committees of the Lower House.

”It is a committee of five members that could issue a non-binding resolution,“ said the President.

Meantime Vice-President Julio Cobos asked President Cristina Kirchner to ”reconsider the situation“ and ”for the sake of her country“ to go on with her trip to China. This business trip was a remarkable one, long-planned and scheduled. Besides, it was to represent an excellent opportunity to deepen bilateral relations with the world's second economy, added Cobos.

The Vice-President insisted on the fact that each time he was in charge as the main authority of the Executive branch he did not sign any decree -except for the one in honour over former president Raúl Alfonsín's death, but it was under CFK's consent-. He assured: ”I did not make decisions against any of the measures the Executive branch implemented and I did not make any administrative decisions.“ He added that if there was no threat to the governability, he found no reason to suspend such an important trip like the one Mrs. Kirchner was about to embark on.

Cobos went deeper in the matter and expressed: ”As regards the situation surrounding the Central Bank, no declaration of mine favouring the current head of this entity exists.“ He explained that the only thing he had said was that if what the CB Law Document had been respected, there would have been no need to sign two DNU emergency decrees, as the Bicameral Committee's resolution is non-binding. ”I expect it is the National Congress the one who finds a way out of this conflict, which is nowadays a judicialized one,“ he expressed.

To the fact that he had been facing several accusations, including those of him not fulfilling his duty as Vice-President, he declared that they represent ”not only personal damage, but also institutional damage, and are surely are concerning the Argentine people.“ He declared that he is willing to remain quiet, because he knows he will not be making resolutions ”out of those“ which he is supposed to be making. He was clear when stating that he remains loyal ”to the National Constitution.“ Cobos summed up: ”I have not placed any obstacles on the way of any conflict. On the other hand, everything I've done was trying to seek ways out of several issues”.