Pablo de León
02/07/2020 - 19:48
- Clarín.com
- Politics
Alberto Ángel Fernández returned from his European tour and went through the presidential residence of Olivos for a brief stop, before resuming frantic activity at the Casa Rosada.
Because he slept well on the Paris - Buenos Aires flight of Air France, the Argentine president was located in his office at the Government House, where he received several ministers and his chief of staff. But where he dedicated special emphasis on the dialogue with Martín Guzmán, his economic sword for the renegotiation of external debt, who in the last week accompanied him by several European countries but who had a key meeting with the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva .
Alberto reviewed with Guzmán the detail of the talk with the IMF , where they already know what the economic plan that the Fernández administration has crawled for after an agreement with that entity: " There is a plan if we pay as we want to pay and there is another, if we cannot pay as we want, "a senior official summed up after learning about the content of the head of state's conversation with the owner of the economic portfolio.
The meeting headed by Alberto Fernández and Angela Merkel in Berlin.
That is why there is optimism in the Argentine delegation after the European tour, as the President is confident that his trip to Italy, Germany and Spain has been a "positive conditioner" for the support of the US. in resolving the payment of the debt.
The Government intends to reach a global proposal with the IMF for April and then to move forward in the negotiation with the bondholders, which appears more difficult. Anyway, on the return of the Old Continent, Alberto's team estimates that they have already made progress in a 50/60% agreement with the bondholders and 80% with the International Monetary Fund.
The options that Fernández and Guzmán review in the talk with Kristalina Georgieva's team are three : one, postpone the payment of capital and interest (what Argentina wants). Second, do not pay interest but then add them to capital and finally, pay interest without capital, something they consider impossible for a country like Argentina.
Alberto Fernández greets Macron, president of France
But for the success of any of these alternatives (and to fatten an agreement with 50/60% of the bondholders and 80% of the Fund), the support of the Donald Trump administration is necessary. A key fact this Friday was the talk between Jorge Argüello (already with ambassador credentials in Washington) with Mauricio Claver, the adviser to the president of the United States for Latin America and a tough negotiator.
According to Fernandista optimism, the planets line up after the summits with Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Pedro Sánchez, leaders of Germany, France and Spain, respectively,