seeks support in negotiating with the IMF

(Lisbon – Special Envoy)

After eleven hours of a gentle flight in which he alternated break away from the movies and conversations with some of its main collaborators, Alberto Fernandez landed in Lisbon this Sunday afternoon in what will be the first stop on the five-day tour in which he will visit four countries, ending with a meeting alone with Pope Francis and it will seek to provide Argentina with the support of European leaders in its negotiations with the Monetary Fund.

“We hope to sow a seed that will help us in debt renegotiation“Assured a member of the presidential delegation as the Airbus 330 rented from Aerolineas Argentinas began its descent at the international airport of the Portuguese capital.

For the head of state, the trip is also described as a political breath of fresh air before the constant internal tensions in the ruling coalition that they have Cristina Kirchner as one of the main protagonists. As Mauricio macri In his years as president, Fernández, they say in the delegation, feels good to leave the country.

Accompanied in business class by the first lady, Fabiola Yanez; the Minister of the Economy, Martin guzman; the secretary general of the presidency, Julio Vitobello; The chancellor Felipe Solá; the secretary for communication and the press, Juan Pablo Biondi, and the secretary of worship, Guillermo Olivieri, Fernández stayed at the Eurostars Museum in Lisbon and will have his first official activity this Sunday afternoon: a welcome meeting with the President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Portugal is the only capital of the four that the president will visit without nightly restrictions due to the pandemic. Madrid, which lifted the curfew this Sunday, maintains the closure of gastronomy from midnight.

Gustavo Beliz, the secretary for strategic affairs, recently will be added at the end of the tour, in Rome: it is because he has a direct link with Francisco.

However, the highlight of his visit to Portugal will be before noon this Monday when the Prime Minister receives him, Antonio costa, a relevant leader, according to the official entourage, who holds the provisional presidency of the European Union. They had already communicated virtually at the beginning of the year.

In fact, this capital which welcomed the Argentine delegation with a spring climate was not on the final agenda of the trip, which she had been limited by the health situation of Argentina and the local vicissitudes that Fernández faces. It was the Portuguese government, they say, who insisted on going through Lisbon.

In this sense, as expected from his subsequent stops in Madrid, Paris and Rome, the Head of State hopes to collect from Costa a support for the renegotiation of the $ 44 billion that Mauricio Macri received in the form of a loan from the IMF in 2017, and that now the Frente de Todos must refinance. The same negotiations are running for the payment of just over $ 2 billion that the government has to face with the Paris Club. The meeting with Emmanuel Macron, scheduled for Wednesday, will be essential in this regard.

In this sense, the role of Guzmán -le only senior official who traveled with a handful of advisers, on a flight that has also brought about 20 guards, ceremonies and logistics to Europe – it will be essential during the stay of just over 120 hours.

The Minister arrived in Portugal with serious internal issues partners of Kirchnerism of the government coalition, which had started to appear around the summer and which had finished consolidating the previous week, when he tried to remove the now famous Under-Secretary for Energy, Federico Basualdo, for tariff increases for Edenor and Edesur customers in the City and, in particular, in Greater Buenos Aires, the heart of K.

Rome will have a special section: in addition to the meeting with the Pope, the delegation waited for the confirmation of the meeting that the President himself and the director of the Fund could have Georgieva Kristalina. Until now, this space is reserved only for an activity in the Vatican with the Minister of the Economy.

Before that, Fernández will meet Macron, the Italian President and Prime Minister, Mario draghi -He chaired the European Central Bank and has interferences in the international world of finance-, and with Pedro Sanchez to Madrid.

The passage through Spain could have more news anyway.