Alberto Fernández has started his tour in Europe and is looking for a meeting with Kristalina Georgieva

“We have come to ratify our agreements with Europe, so that they accompany us in development.” Relaxed and in a good mood, in a section of the bar of the Eurostars Museum hotel facing the Tagus – the longest on the Iberian Peninsula-, in Lisbon, Alberto Fernández was waiting on his first stop on the European tour, and in the L he Argentine entourage did not rule out at this time a meeting between the president and Georgieva Kristalina, the director of the IMF, on Friday in Rome, a few hours before returning to the country.

The meeting, which was still being negotiated between the delegation and the Monetary Fund authorities, was the subject, according to official sources, on the agenda of the director of the organization, What If you plan to participate with Martín Guzmán in an activity in the Vatican which includes, for example, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, his mentor.

For the President, the meeting with Kristalina, with whom lately he has had more conversations than those that have officially transpired, would be the ideal end of a journey completely crossed by renegotiation of the country with the Monetary Fund, a program that Fernández and Guzmán hope to reprogram, with benefits for the Argentine economy, with the support of Europe.

That is to say from Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, in addition to Germany. An issue which, in the country, generates internal reluctance with the sector of the coalition which responds to Cristina Kirchner.

Although Berlin is not among the tour destinations due to the sanitary restrictions imposed in that city, Within the government, they assured that next week there would be a virtual meeting with the German authorities.

“We expect a lot to see her (Kristalina), we look at her schedule”, they abounded from the official delegation to this newspaper.

In this sense, the first official meeting of the presidential tour with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the Portuguese president, in the charming palace of Belém – the residence was declared a national monument in 2007 although the president does not use it for living – , it was more than auspicious for Fernández.

“In 2011, Portugal resisted the Fund’s adjustment policies. They had the support of the European Union with an expansive policy that they pursued. We are looking for the same thing, “they explained from the presidential environment shortly after the meeting, which lasted over an hour, which included a talk between the two leaders and then an extended working meeting with Guzmán, Felipe Solá, Julio Vitobello and Juan Pablo Biondi.

For Casa Rosada, the Portuguese support which this Monday will be confirmed with the bilateral agreement that the Head of State and the Prime Minister will have in the middle of the morning Antonio costa should be reproduced the rest of the week with the wink of Pedro Sánchez, Emmanuel Macron and Mario Draghi, the Italian Prime Minister.

And Pope Francis, who will receive Fernández at the last stop of the tour, and that he has already repeatedly expressed his approval of Argentina’s emerging position.

The government came to Europe with some clear objectives. Obtain the presidents’ support for the renegotiation with the IMF, refinance the maturity with the Paris Club of just over US $ 2 billion scheduled for the end of the month – and that Argentina does not default with this body – and, with that, propose a new program before advice of the Monetary Fund.

“It is very important that the European countries continue to support us in the proposal submitted to the Fund. Our alliance with Europe must be firm,” they told the delegation to this newspaper. They also celebrated again

The government calls for the reprogramming of the US $ 44 billion in credit Be ready that the Cambiemos administration has taken is defined by the country. “Based on the economic recovery, like the Portuguese model,” they explain. Portugal, for example, implemented a vast program that fueled consumption and ended with a stable political and economic coalition with which the Frente de Todos now feels at ease: “We are two friendly nations that come together. support ”.

Fernández and Costa, the Portuguese prime minister, had forged ties during the campaign. In fact, the inclusion of Lisbon as the first stop on the tour has been confirmed, they swear, at the request of the Portuguese government.

Less than a month ago, Guzmán, rubble in Argentina but with a key role here in the old world, had done the first part of the job when he received support from finance ministers. “We are now seeking to close the Europe chapter”, they confided. Bugle of the delegation.

But what appears here in Lisbon as a guarantee of consensus, in Argentina, still generates internal discussions. Before the start of the tour, Kirchnerism voted on a draft declaration of use of the 4.3 billion dollars of drawing rights corresponding to Argentina for the expenses related to the pandemic, and not for the payment debt.

In the lobby of the Portuguese hotel, they put disagreements into perspective. “We want the same. Ideally, these funds are reserves that support the issuance for pandemic expenses,” they say. In Buenos Aires, it seems, they don’t think the same way.

(Lisbon – Special Envoy)