Mubarak's address before parliamentarians unveiled the legislative agenda for the year 2009-2010, reports Gamal Essam El-Din President Hosni Mubarak addressed a joint session of the People's Assembly and Shura Council on Saturday to mark the opening of the last parliamentary session before elections are held next year. Mubarak's keynote speech focussed on political and economic developments in Egypt. "We want a new vision for a modern Egyptian society based on the ideals of democracy, respect of the rule of law, public freedoms and the rights of its citizens," Mubarak said. Mubarak's speech unveiled a legislative agenda aimed at containing the global economic slowdown and promoting national growth rates. "I discussed this agenda with the government and we have agreed to tackle a number of key economic laws," Mubarak said. A LE10 billion fiscal stimulus package funding vital potable water, sanitary drainage and road development projects in Egypt's poorest villages tops the list of draft legislation. It is the third fiscal stimulus package in two years. The first two packages -- of LE15 million and LE8 million -- Mubarak argued, had helped Egypt weather the bad fall out from 2007's sharp rise in global commodity prices and the following year's credit crunch. "I am happy that we succeeded in containing these two crises without incurring a huge budget deficit or borrowing," said Mubarak. "We managed to protect citizens from the storms of two global crises without placing burdens on the shoulders of future generations." Another priority is to open infrastructure projects to private competition. "The involvement of the private sector," Mubarak said, "will help modernise public services and relieve the state treasury of budgetary burdens." The new legislative agenda, he continued, was aimed at broadening social justice, fighting poverty, and helping those on limited incomes to cope with higher inflation rates. Mubarak revealed that the government aims to raise social insurance pensions by 25 per cent by January and reduce the costs of healthcare for the poorest. "The government believes that a new system of low-cost health insurance should cover all poor Egyptians. While the rich should bear the entire costs of healthcare the government aims to relieve poor citizens of these costs," Mubarak told the assembled parliamentarians. He also indicated that farmers would "remain at the heart of investment, growth and employment policies". "The government has already prepared a new bill restructuring the Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit financially, administratively and technically to improve its agricultural services, boost the income of small- scale farmers and promote agricultural and rural development." Mubarak also affirmed that parliament would continue debating legislation regulating nuclear power generation, organ transplants and the protection of antiquities. "Parliamentary discussion of these bills began in the outgoing session and we hope it will be completed in the current one," said Mubarak. Mubarak praised the performance of the People's Assembly, claiming it had played a "leading role in achieving constitutional reform, the scope of which has been unprecedented since the early 1970s". "It also endorsed historical amendments of key laws on the exercise of political rights, the regulation of the performance of political parties, the People's Assembly and Shura Council." "History will record that this parliament supported independence of the judiciary [by] amending the law regulating the performance of the Supreme Constitutional Court, endorsing the law creating a new Higher Council for Judicial Authorities, and abolishing the post of socialist prosecutor-general [SPG]. Civilian courts now take charge of all the responsibilities of the dismantled SPG." Mubarak also praised parliament's approval of amendments to penal code articles on publication offences, pointing out that "most prison sentences" had now been phased out. Al-Ahram political analyst Amr El-Chobki noted that "economic and social issues dominated Mubarak's speech". "The speech did not mention the fate of the 28-year-old emergency law which is scheduled to expire next May, while Mubarak's words on constitutional reform reflected an NDP viewpoint rather than a national one, ignoring political forces' criticisms of the 34 constitutional amendments passed in 2007." Mohamed Shaaban, the leftist Tagammu Party's sole MP, was happy that Mubarak's speech focussed on poor people but was disappointed that the NDP appeared determined to "turn a deaf ear to the basic demands of the opposition for true political reform and democratisation".
