Fox Urges Lawmakers to Unite on Reforms

Acknowledging that many important reform efforts have languished during his first nine months in office, President Vicente Fox called on legislators of all parties Saturday night to join him in a “national political accord” to shape an array of major reforms and take transformation forward.

In his first state of the union address, just days before he sees President Bush on Wednesday at the White House, Mexico’s Fox appealed to a joint session of Congress to forge a program of structural changes as “a strategic lever in this process of modernization.”

Fox, whose victory last year ended the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s 71 years of rule, has been criticized repeatedly for failing to build bridges with Congress, and even with members of his own party, to get major legislation passed.

On Saturday night, he said changing the party in charge “is just the point of departure of this new historic cycle of reforms and transformations.” He called on the nation’s numerous political parties, which have split on issues such as tax and energy reforms, to focus on solving problems rather than winning political points.

“The message that is arriving from the social base is clear: We are obliged not to lose sight of the fact that our real enemies are poverty, insecurity, ignorance, corruption and authoritarianism,” he said. “It is necessary to recognize that this process can and must be carried out with more harmony. Therefore, all together, now in the same boat, without caring what political flag we are flying, we must fight against those ills that hurt us as citizens and weaken us as a nation.”

But even as Fox delivered his address, he was heckled repeatedly by opposing legislators from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and the left-of-center Democratic Revolution Party as well as from smaller parties. Fox’s own center-right National Action Party is in the minority in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, increasing the pressure on Fox to find alliances with other parties to get reforms adopted.

And as Fox sought a political accord, the only party that had allied with him in his campaign, the tiny Green Party of Mexico, announced that it was breaking with him for his failure to achieve campaign promises.

“It seems as if all those who criticized presidentialism in the past are now taking advantage of it,” said Green Party Sen. Jorge Emilio Gonzalez.

Two legislators held up a banner reminding Fox that during his campaign he promised to find a resolution to the Maya indigenous uprising in Chiapas state. The banner read: “I will Resolve the Chiapas Conflict in 15 Minutes, Blah, Blah, Blah.”

The lingering trouble in Chiapas is one example of the ways that political conflict in this country has derailed reform initiatives. Fox released political prisoners and withdrew army bases early in his term, and he proposed constitutional reforms that were meant to entice the Zapatista rebels in the state back to the negotiating table. But Congress watered down the reforms at the last minute, and the Zapatistas rejected the amended measure, leaving the issue in stalemate.

Fox reported progress on several fronts, including a crackdown on corruption and a 16% increase in spending on anti-poverty programs.

He acknowledged that the economy has slowed, but he said that real wages rose 6% in the first half of this year compared with a year earlier and that inflation is at low levels not seen since 1970.

Yet the address emphasized the need to advance further and faster with structural reforms to achieve what Fox called “a modern, enterprising and socially responsible humanism.”

“I know there is much still to do,” he said. “Many results have not arrived with the speed or the depth that our needs demand. There are obstacles, and there will be more ahead. But be assured that I will overcome them.”

In an earlier address, a PRI leader, Deputy Efren Leyva Acevedo, tacitly acknowledged the need for political alliances to enable reformers to avoid deadlock.

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Rafael Aguirre of The Times’ Mexico City Bureau contributed to this report.