The former president of the Spanish Government, Felipe Gonzalez, addressed the joint houses of the Dominican Congress yesterday and called for a social pact that would help the country free itself from the current crisis. Gonzalez said that, with a national consensus, this agreement would assist growth recovery, would not entail major sacrifices and would strengthen the country in a globalized world. He pointed out that other benefits from such an agreement would be a faster economic recovery, an improved distribution of income and a definition of what is needed to eat, since food is not to be played with at all. Gonzalez? speech was attended by both Hipolito Mejia and Leonel Fernandez, as well as Monsignor Nunez Collado, the nation?s top business and financial leaders and members of the diplomatic corps. Notably absent from the proceedings was Vice-President Milagros Ortiz Bosch, who arrived early, saw that there was no seat reserved for her, and promptly left the building. During the talk, the former Spanish political leader repeatedly mentioned the need to work together to find common grounds for solutions to the problems facing the nation. Gonzalez pointed out that ?after the transparent elections the world and the international organizations have their eyes fixed here.? And the former president of Spain?s government warned that while he saw the Dominican Republic as capable of bouncing back from the current crisis, if things were put on a scale, the odds were even for either overcoming the crisis or making it a permanent situation. President Mejia limited his comments on the speech to a single word: ?Bomba,? which translates to ?Great!? President-elect Fernandez said that he was 100% in agreement with the proposals outlined by Gonzalez.