Javier Milei has kept the lion’s claws (an animal with which he identifies) and acts as a domestic cat to host the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on her visit to Buenos Aires. This is the third meeting between the two in nine months, and the first since the triumph of Donald Trump, with whom they share ideological affinity.
In a Casa Rosada decorated with Italian flags at its entrance, Meloni was received by Karina Milei, general secretary of the Presidency and a few minutes later her brother and Argentine president joined. Immediately, both politicians showed gestures of closeness, such as smiles and whispers in the ear. After the bilateral meeting, Meloni said that Milei is his friend and declared: “We share a political idea, we are two leaders who fight for the freedom of the West.” At the same time he recognized a favorable context for Italian companies. He did not say it, but it is about the absolute withdrawal of the State from regulating the economy.
Enel, key company
The starting point is the historical ties that unite Italy and Argentina: more than a million Italians live in the country, 20 million descendants of Italians. There are around 300 Italian companies in Argentina. In this framework, commercial exchange amounts to 3000 million euros annually. The harmony of the ultra-liberal governments could favor the participation of Italian companies in the privatization process promoted by the ultra-liberal president.
Besides, the Large Investment Incentive Regime ( RIGI), approved by this government in Congress, seeks to attract foreign capital for investments in privileged conditions for the exploitation of natural resources.
Miguel Ponce, director of the Center for Studies for 21st Century Foreign Trade, tells newspaper.es that Italy is a strong investor. “In the privatization process, Italians will want to participate either associated with their companies here or directly from Italy. They will want to resume the ”joint venture“; “They aim to be the small and medium-sized European company in Argentina.”
The former Undersecretary of Industry and Commerce during the Government of Raúl Alfonsín (radical center-left) highlights the energy issue, and in particular, the state electricity company Enel. “Enel has been operating here for almost ten years, and wants to participate in the generation, commercialization and transportation of energy. The company decided to suspend the sale of Edesur (an Argentine electricity distributor that belongs to its group and that it had been trying to sell for some time). Not only is he not going to leave, but he is going to claim prominence.”
In this regard, the Italian magazine Formiche He noted that Enel plays a strategic role in the bilateral relationship. “In Argentina, the power company has a strong presence and Enel has intensified contacts with key figures such as president Javier Milei this year, indicating continued interest in the market.”
Formiche highlights other sources of interest for Italy. “Lithium and hydrocarbons (reserves estimated at 300 years) represent a wealth that has aroused the interest of numerous actors.”
Lithium
In this regard, Gabriel Puricelli, coordinator of the International Policy Program at the Public Policy Laboratory, tells elDiario.es that “Italy is not a fundamental player in lithium like the US, Canada or China, so it is interested, yes, because of the energy transition, but on a smaller scale. There are Italian interests in the area of energy and public works, which Milei has paralyzed. Let us remember that in the wave of privatizations of the 1990s, Italy became an important player in telecommunications and energy.”
Another issue on the agenda is the European Union-Mercosur agreement, the French government is leading the protest against the ratification of the trade agreement. Emmanuel Macron vindicated his position during his meeting with Milei in Buenos Aires, before the G20 summit in Rio, explaining that France “will continue to oppose” the agreement. Discussions have been open for more than 20 years and, according to expert voices, skepticism prevails.
Puricelli maintains that at the G20 summit differences in foreign policy between Milei and Meloni were evident. “All the dissidence that Milei raised at the G20 Meloni did not accompany, she was not an ally. Milei had no allies in the G20, he spoke against everything but then signed the joint declaration. Of course there are affinities: compare the social agenda and the pro-US and NATO stance. “Milei speculates about returning to the G20 behind Trump.”
Excited about the victory of the Republican candidate, Milei has in mind the formation of a League of Conservative Nations that will work in harmony to fight the “cultural battle” in defense of private property, capitalism and the “ideas of freedom.”
Meloni shares the “cultural battle” of the global extreme right. Both saw each other in February, in Rome, when the leader of the Brothers of Italy invited the Argentine president to participate in the G7 summit in the Italian region of Apulia, where they met for the second time.
For Ponce, “Milei is a kind of representative of Trump in Latin America and some say that Meloni wants to be the representative in Europe.” Not for nothing, the Argentine president has already been to the United States and took his long-awaited photo with the Republican in Palm Beach.
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