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The French president, Emmanuel Macron, received his Argentine counterpart, Alberto Fernández, on Friday, May 13, at the Elysée Palace, in the French capital, in one of the stops of the European tour of the head of the Argentine Executive. Both leaders discussed the issue of the Southern Cone country’s debt with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as the war in Ukraine or the death of a French student in the Latin American country last week.
With Emmanuel Macron, “we are united by a humanistic, inclusive vision of politics,” declared Argentine President Alberto Fernández on an official visit to Paris on Friday.
The head of the Executive of the country of the Southern Cone has been touring Europe in recent days, passing through Portugal, Spain, Germany, France and Italy, where his second tour on the continent will end in a year.
While Latin America is trying to recover from the instability after the Covid-19 pandemic, the Argentine head of state sought in these four days of European tour to boost his country’s energy and food exports, offering his help to end the war in Ukraine, although ruling out sanctions against Moscow.
“Today the world needs more protein, more food, not more missiles,” Fernández said in a statement prior to the meeting with his French counterpart. “The last thing the world needs is a recession. It does not support more deaths, we make ourselves available to see what we can help from Latin America so that the world regains peace, “added the president.
These words were applauded by Macron, who insisted that it is time to “reinforce cooperation and friendship” between the two countries.
France supports Argentina in paying the debt to the IMF
The Argentine leader’s visit to Europe also has the objective of defending his country in the financial crisis it is going through, in particular, to achieve a rescheduling of the public debt for a total amount of 7,200 million dollars contracted with the Paris Club and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “We want Argentina to reach an agreement as soon as possible,” said the French head of state during the meeting with Fernández.
Parallel to Fernández’s European tour, thousands of Argentines march against the economic crisis and precariousness. The Latin American country registered a 6% increase in the cost of living during the month of April. Regarding the year-on-year index, the country registered a price increase of 58%, the highest rate in the last three decades. President Fernández attributed, in part, this scenario to the war in Ukraine.
Over the next three years, Argentina must return almost all of the 45 billion dollars that the IMF lent to the previous Executive led by the conservative Mauricio Macri.
According to a statement from the Ministry of the Economy, it was announced in March that an agreement had been reached with the IMF to refinance the $44 billion loan, in order to “continue generating the conditions of stability necessary to address the existing structural challenges.”
Macron promises to find the “truth” about the death of a French student in Argentina
The meeting between the two leaders was also an occasion for the presidents to discuss the circumstances of the death of a French student, Lwana Bichet, who was run over on May 7 by a taxi in Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital.
The young student died last week as a result of injuries sustained in the accident. For his part, the taxi driver, who suffered a stroke and a heart attack, also ran over two other women of French nationality. Later, the taxi, out of control, rammed two cars. When assistance arrived, the driver “had lost consciousness,” according to the director of medical emergencies in Buenos Aires (SAME), Alberto Crescenti.
“I have a heartfelt thought for the family and their loved ones,” Macron said during a brief statement in the Elysée courtyard. “I want to tell her family, her friends here that, by celebrating the friendship between our two countries, we are also thinking of her and obviously we will continue the mobilization so that the truth about the circumstances is known and to reiterate our solidarity,” he added. the French president.
Lwana Bichet had been in the Argentine capital for three months, like the other two French women, as part of a university exchange at the private University of San Andrés.
With AFP and EFE
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