President to seek support in Europe with his views on IMF and Paris Club

President Alberto Fernandez will leave today for Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, where he will meet the dad Francisco, during a tour whose main objectives are to provide significant support in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and obtain the deferral of the payment of maturity with the Paris Club.

In the presidential entourage, the presence of the Minister of the Economy stands out, Martin Guzman, which ended the most difficult week of his tenure since taking over the Palacio de Hacienda. Another goal of the trip is to strengthen Guzmán, who has suffered several consecutive defeats.

Argentina’s negotiating time is running out. Fernández and Guzmán have time until the end of June to cancel $ 2.1 billion, otherwise they will default. 20 days ago, the manager met the president of the Paris Club, Emmanuel Moulin, with whom he asked for time to “define actions that avoid a negative blow to the Argentine economy”.

The biggest complication, which the Head of State will seek to unblock during his visit to the French capital, is that the 22 creditors who make up this body, ask the government to agree on a program with the IMF in order to achieve the extension.

The trip will take place amid the internal tension of the Frente de Todos after the affair between Guzmán and the camper Federico Basualdo, which the ruling party sought to unzip with “the photo of unity” in which the president, vice-president Cristina Kirchner, and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Massa, took part last Wednesday.

Moreover, among the various issues that the President and his Minister of the Economy will have to explain, the hard Kirchnerism project, led by Oscar Parrilli, also appears when the $ 4.7 billion that Argentina received from the IMF , a far cry from the Casa Rosada strategy, is used for direct transfer plans such as the IFE, which Guzmán withdrew from the 2021 budget.

In this scenario, the president’s first destination will be Lisbon. The entourage, which is also made up of the first lady, Fabiola Yañez; The chancellor Felipe Solá; the strategic affairs secretary, Gustavo Beliz; the secretary general of the presidency, Julio Vitobello, and the presidential spokesperson, Juan Pablo Biondi, will be received Sunday afternoon at the National Palace in Bethlehem by the President Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa. The next morning Fernández will meet the Prime Minister António Luís Santos da Costa.

The same afternoon he will leave for Madrid. Tuesday, meanwhile, where he will have an audience with King Felipe VI then lunch with Pedro Sanchez in the Palacio de la Moncloa.

On Wednesday, according to the official agenda, Fernández will have lunch at the Eliseo Palace with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron With whom, they stressed to Fernández, he has “an excellent political relationship and a magnificent personal relationship”. Fernández will seek explicit approval from the French president.

Finally, on Thursday, the president will be received by the Holy Father at the Vatican. This will be the first time they will meet face to face after the legalization of abortion. Guzmán, meanwhile, had an audience with Francisco a little over a month ago. Then Fernández will hold a meeting with President Sergio Mattarella and close the visit with a meeting with the President of the Council of Ministers, Mario Draghi. On Friday, he will return to Buenos Aires.

As explained by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the president’s agenda aims “to strengthen bilateral relations, expand markets and agreements on science, technology and education.”