Alberto Fernández begins a five-day tour in search of political oxygen and support for his economic program

After a week of furious interns and the lively debate around the direction of economic management, Alberto Fernández will begin this Sunday a intense five-day tour by Lisbon, Madrid, Paris and Rome to try to obtain support for renegotiation with the Monetary Fund and the Paris Club, and in search for political oxygenation of its leadership, shaken by Kirchnerism, the most hostile sector of the coalition.

The trip, which ended up being formalized to the limit by complex health situation of the country following the global pandemic, will culminate with a cucarda that Fernández will be able to exhibit again in less than a year and a half of management: the second meeting with Pope Francis, scheduled for the Thursday.

Accompanied by the first lady and the chancellor, Felipe Solá; the secretary general of the presidency, Julio Vitobello; the strategic affairs secretary, Gustavo Beliz, and the secretary of communication and the press, Juan Pablo Biondi, Fernández will land this Sunday at noon in Europe.

The flight rented from Aerolineas Argentinas will also have among its passengers: Martin guzman, the Minister of the Economy who last week was beaten by all the Kirchnism, a sneak attack at the heart of the economic program of the Casa Rosada.

Fernández and Guzmán to seek EU support for renegotiation with IMF and Paris Club, two open fronts of the minister’s leadership who, in recent times, have started to meet resistance in the most difficult sector of the coalition, much more concerned about the electoral calendar than due to macroeconomic imbalances.

This Thursday, for example, the upper house obtained an opinion on the project from Oscar Parrilli, Cristina Kirchner’s right-hand man in the Senate, who proposes to use it to “mitigate the pandemic”, and not to pay “the debt or interest “for the US $ 4,300 in drawing rights that the IMF will send to Argentina as a member country.

Francisco and Kristalina

Rome will be, in this sense, a crucial stage of the tour: in addition to the conclave with Francisco – the first took place at the end of January 2020, before the outbreak of the pandemic in the Western world – to whom Fernández has already expressed on several occasions their gratitude for their support for the renegotiation of sovereign debt, Guzmán will share an activity with Kristalina Georgieva, the director of the IMF, at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican, before taking the plane.

At his usual press conference on Wednesday, Gerry Rice, the Fund’s communications director, made a statement of support for the head of the Palacio de Hacienda, when questioned locally: “We are fully involved in the talks with Minister Guzmán“.

The minister, who ended up losing the temporary trust he had gained from Cristina Kirchner this summer, was left at the center of the storm last week over his failed decision to step down from the now notorious undersecretary of the energy. Federico basualdo, an official who reports to Kirchnerism.

Guzmán tried to move it two Fridays ago without notifying the Instituto Patria, in order to advance in a double digit rate increase in the payment of Edenor and Edesur customers in the City and in Greater Buenos Aires, epicenter of K.

For now, Casa Rosada has implemented a 9% increase: the cap that, for example, the governor has requested Axel Kicillof, whose interference in the economic zone began to cause distress in the markets.

Before getting on the plane, however, the minister raised the bar: “We need to be self-critical, energy subsidies are pro-rich in a country where child poverty is 57%, ”he said sitting a few meters from the president.

Agenda

In this local context, Fernández and his entourage will arrive in European Spring, a tour in which Casa Rosada has high expectations. First Lisbon, where the Head of State will meet his partner Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and share a lunch with Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

After in Madrid, convulsed by the triumph of the Spanish right: a meeting with King Felipe VI at the Palacio de la Zarzuela and a meal offered in honor of the entourage by Pedro Sanchez, very much in tune with the president.

Then it will be the turn of Paris, which is gradually starting to lift the coronavirus containment measures: on the agenda there is meeting with businessmen at the Argentine Embassy in the Gallic city, and a conversation with Emmanuel Macron in the Elisha.

Fernández and Macron spoke by phone on February 5. They discussed at length the global COVID vaccine shortage. In this opportunity, the Frenchman expressed his support for the country’s renegotiation with the IMF.

In this line, the Government is seeking additional support to close the chapter with the Fund for $ 44 billion the agency loaned him to the administration of Mauricio Macri and to the Paris Club. For the latter, Argentina needs Yes or yes conclude an agreement with the IMF. This is part of the internal discussion between the coalition partners, whose president will try to consolidate the position during this tour.

At ItalyMeanwhile, Fernández will have lunch with his partner Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale Palace, then a working meeting with Mario dragui, President of the Council of Ministers. The role of Dragui, who this year assumed a multi-stakeholder coalition, may be relevant: known as “Super Mario”, this septuagenarian economist chaired the European Central Bank and had a remarkable milestone by international private banking. He has more than oiled ties to the region.

BORN