Argentina-President to address Congress over farm tax.

The President will open the 127th year of ordinary sessions in Congess, where she will stand next to Vice-President Julio Cobos, with whom Fernández de Kirchner had not talked since Cobos voted against a controversial bill to implement a sliding scale for soybean export duties last July.

Cobos’ reluctance to support the government-sponsored bill, which failed to pass approval in the Upper House, meant a major political setback for the President, whose popularity plummeted as a result of the four-month conflict with the farmers over the unpopular duty hike.

Media reports said the government’s inner circle had studied different alternatives to avoid a possible awkward meeting between the President and Cobos. However, sources close to the Vice-President yesterday downplayed this.