Federico Mayol
05/15/2021 2:29 PM
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 05/15/2021 2:29 PM
Emmanuel Macron
, who understands Spanish perfectly, promised Alberto Fernández that
France would request a bridge agreement
to extend the payment term of the US $ 2.4 billion that Argentina should pay the Paris Club at the end of the month, while the talks progress with the International Monetary Fund.
On Friday, after taking a sum of public gestures from Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, Fernández asked Kristalina Georgieva that the payment of the surcharges that the country has to deposit for the exceptional credit that it contracted in 2018 -
U $ S 950 million for this year
- it is an immorality in times of pandemic.
After two rounds of coffee in a friendly lounge at the Sofitel hotel,
the first face-to-face
between the two, the director of the Monetary Fund promised to review the statute at the October board meeting.
The head of state took one more license, beyond the negotiation of the debt: he dared to tell him at that meeting that it
was imperative that the members of the body decided to suspend forever the collection of these charges
, which increase the rate in 2 points.
He spoke about it on Friday afternoon with
John Kerry
in the Italian capital.
Joe Biden's envoy just listened.
But he was particularly
interested in Fernández's role in the region
, which was in turmoil, with Jair Bolsonaro at a loss and Venezuela always a tinderbox.
Visibly exhausted by the intense bustle of the tour that took him through four countries in six days, Fernández embarked in the military sector of Fiumicino, at midnight on Friday, with his objective accomplished.
Alberto Fernández with Kristalina Georgieva, head of the IMF.
A while earlier, even a cable from the Bloomberg agency indicated that the chances that Macron's promise would come true were high.
"
It was what I asked him, that information must come from there
," the President would tell
Clarín
in
the afternoon
in the lobby of the Italian hotel, after a walk around the city.
Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires,
Carlos Zannini
justified his privileged vaccination and defended the famous Federico Basualdo to the detriment of
Martín Guzmán
- a surprising television appearance that especially irritated Fernández, already installed in Rome.
The INDEC announced inflation for April,
again above 4%; YPF officialized another increase in the pump, the number 12 since last August. The Buenos Aires PJ, surrendered to
Máximo Kirchner
, published a request with a request against the "rates". And Kirchnerism gave half sanction in the Senate to a draft declaration related to the use of Drawing Rights, a symbolic gesture
intended to annoy the presidential delegation
, in particular the Minister of Economy, whose European negotiation strategy was crossed by the discussion of this funding mechanism - some US $ 4.3 billion - insistently.
The President's honeymoon is over
.
Olivos is not Europe.
And the local discussions do not have the geopolitical hierarchy of the talks he shared at lunches with Antonio Costa, Pedro Sánchez or his French counterpart.
In the Sao Bento, La Moncloa or El Eliseo palaces,
no one asked him about his vice president
or who has real power in Argentina.
Having revalidated his partnership with Guzmán, pointed out by none other than Cristina Kirchner, Fernández must now seek a solution to the civil servant's palace conflict with his undersecretary of Energy,
the most taboo subject
in the minister's entourage,
whose ego was mortally wounded.
“
The decision was made and the resignation (of Basualdo) is firm.
The management system is guaranteed by the President
”, insisted from the delegation.
What looms behind is the core discussion: the reduction of subsidies due to the unfreezing of electricity rates in Greater Buenos Aires, the
epicenter of the K vote.
A segmentation work that, according to the Treasury, Basualdo never presented and in which now it should be advanced.
The discussion is economic, but
Guzmán never understood that it was entirely crossed by politics
.
That is to say, for the legislative elections.
Alberto Fernandez Axel van Trotsenburg of the World Bank meeting in Rome Photo Presidency
"
The degree of positivity of the tour will depend on the evolution of inflation and the vaccination campaign,
" confessed this Saturday morning an official who took advantage of the last leg of the return flight to stretch his legs on the plane.
Before taking off, Fernández, Felipe Solá, Gustavo Béliz and Guzmán shared a relaxed meal at the residence of Ambassador Roberto Carlés with Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo and the masterminds of finance
Joseph Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs
.
The last verve before running into reality again.
The local agenda
The Government faces a serious inflationary challenge, which once again surprised the president and his minister in the last leg of the trip, while the details of the meeting with Georgieva were being finalized: 4.1% the April number, according to INDEC.
17.6% accumulated in the first four months.
"It is the main issue, the one that worries us the most," they acknowledged from the delegation.
Close to the minister they abounded in that, in addition, the accumulated is "3 points above" what was projected
, driven by the increase in gasoline, the thawing of tariffs, the business behavior of some sectors and the opening and closing of activities by the pandemic, a profitable moment to mark prices.
Beyond the reasons,
Guzmán still has not found the return to the subject
.
And the electoral urgency puts on the table an unknown regarding social humor.
What will weigh more?
The pocket or the vaccination campaign?
Or both?
On Friday morning, the President spoke by phone from Rome with Axel Kicillof.
Later, the Ministry of Health officially reported an increase in new coronavirus infections: more than 27,000 cases and 600 deaths.
On Friday the DNU expires with the sanitary restrictions
and the bill sent by the Casa Rosada to give a parliamentary umbrella to these measures
does not have the votes.
Economy Minister Martín Guzmán at the arrival of President Alberto Fernandez and his entourage at the Sofitel hotel near Via Veneto.
Photo: Victor Sokolowicz
In Europe, the pandemic is, in political terms, as damaging as in Argentina.
The vaccine shortage hits even the major powers.
Macron, for example, is going through a delicate government situation
, with the resurgence of the extreme right and anarchist groups.
In Spain, lack of refinement legally corners Sánchez in the supreme courts.
Portugal presents its vaccination plan as a success - it is -: the government only obtained 4 million doses.
Fernández heard from European leaders the same problems of our country
.
But amplified by internal differences that generally outweigh criticism from the opposition.
Rome was, in that sense, a spring breeze before returning to
Argentina's toxic autumn
.
Italy, the longest stopover of the trip, gave the head of state time to stroll with his entourage of friends, in a city completely empty of tourists.
A pleasure that Guzmán could not enjoy
.
NE
Look also
Alberto Fernández returned to the country after his tour of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy
Did Fernández's trip serve any purpose?
Alberto Fernández described the tour of Europe as "very productive"
The Paris Club could "forgive" Argentina for a default at the end of the month, in exchange for certain conditions
