MEXICO CITY – Mexican President Felipe Calderon called on Congress Wednesday to hold a special session to analyze and approve a series of legislative reforms he deemed “urgent.”

“It’s urgent that we adjust our legal framework in areas that not only are of great importance for the smooth running of our country” but also where the constitution requires Congress to legislate on specific matters and specific timeframes that “either have elapsed or are due to elapse,” Calderon said at the Los Pinos presidential residence.

Calderon said he will ask the Standing Committee, which represents Congress during recess periods, to call a special session to deal with different pending initiatives.

They include a public safety measure that would grant “legal certainty” to members of the armed forces who take part in combat operations against organized crime, make “their interventions more effective” and strengthen “the institutional structure that protects human rights.”

He also urged lawmakers – who are not scheduled to meet again until September – to pass a political reform bill whose “objective is to instill more power in citizens (and) make them more able to participate in public life.”

That constitutional reform – already approved by the Senate – would allow independent candidates to run for the presidency or any other office and enable legislators to serve consecutive terms.

The head of state also stressed the importance of a labor law overhaul “to “spark (economic) growth” while “promoting productivity and competitiveness,” as well as an initiative that facilitates public-private joint ventures in infrastructure and helps kick start new investment.

Most of these bills are pending approval in the lower house, where the main opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has a plurality.

Calderon’s conservative PAN is the largest party in the Senate. EFE