MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

CFK underlines Argentine economic and political progress, but no word on re-election

The Argentine president opening Congress ordinary sessions, the last of her four year mandate

Addressing Congress on Tuesday Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, CFK, underlined the economic and political development brought on by her administration saying that they helped all Argentine citizens to lead a better quality of life.

The Argentine president attended Congress for the inauguration of the 129th year of ordinary sessions and as is traditional gave a state of the union speech, but did not reveal if she would make effective her re-election bid next October, which has both pro government and opposition members on their nerves.

In any case the most the Argentine president did was to spell further doubts when she said “Did anybody hear me saying that I would seek re-election?” and then downplaying the idea of proposing a constitutional reform to “perpetuate herself in power” as ‘Kirchnerite’ lawmaker Diana Conti had suggested on Monday.

“If I can’t get the opposition to pass the budget draft bill, how would I convince them to let me reform the Constitution?”

Cristina Fernandez underlined the importance or the debt restructuring, the ‘largest in Argentine history” which helped liberate resources and put the economy back on its feet, following the 2002 debacle. “Last year (2010) the production sector advanced 22.7%, a historic record which stimulated all branches of the national economy.”

Mrs Kirchner recalled that in 2003, the Banco Nación (Development bank) gave the majority of its loans to large businesses, while small and medium-sized companies were not covered on a large scale. “This practice has been reversed, with the Banco Nación giving smaller businesses over 40% of its budget for loans, which in turn promotes investment and economic growth on the national front”.

She also compared 2003 and the present year to show how infrastructure has grown as well, saying that the manufacturing of numerous products has grown nationwide and that “this is a significant substitute for imports” underlining Argentina's “economic activity” is what's fuelling “the national development model”.

While still on the subject of economic evolution, the Argentine president added that “we were not wrong in insisting on this model for development and production, for social inclusion”.

When moving on to the subject of employment, the president spoke about unions and the decisions taken by those organizations that often affect the people using different services, specifically transportation services.

She asked for a change in strategy, saying that unions can't “hold hostage” those trying to access these services.

The issue of human rights was also discussed, with Mrs Kirchner saying that “great advances were made”. Although admitting Argentina has had problems with human rights in the past, “some of the numbers are regrettable”, current statistics should help “improve advances”.

She said that Argentina was also now following “international models,” referring to the steps taken worldwide to protect human rights.

Towards the end of the speech, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner mentioned the need for Argentines to work together and reconstruct productive debates and discussions. She said: “we should try to avoid debating those issues that aren't important for everyday life, that aren't important to everyday people”.

“This has been the year of least legislative activity,” said the president while pleading with the public to continue the efforts towards productive cooperation.

While the president was speaking at the Legislature, special security measures were taken to avoid conflicts and incidents. Traffic was blocked on Rivadavia and Entre Ríos avenues, and on Belgrano and Corrientes

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner raised doubts about her presidential reelection hopes during the inauguration speech of this year's ordinary congressional sessions, asking: “Did anybody hear me saying that I would seek reelection?”

The Head of State also downplayed the idea of proposing a constitutional reform to “perpetuate herself in power” as Kirchnerite lawmaker Diana Conti had suggested yesterday.

“If I can’t get the opposition to pass the budget draft bill, how would I convince them to let me reform the Constitution?”

Analysts point to the fact that two of the most pressing public opinion issues, inflation and crime were not addressed in the speech.