MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Judge Griesa's message is reasonable and conciliatory” argues Lavagna

“Take notice of the subtle and surprising statements from Griesa to sit and negotiate”, insisted the former Economy minister

Argentina's former Economy Minister and architect of the 2005 rescheduling of defaulted debt, Roberto Lavagna called for “calm” and “seriousness” to rethink the country's legal strategy following the setback suffered on Monday when the US Supreme Court decided not to hear its appeal against holdout hedge funds.

 “We must have a share of calm and be serious in the proposal that can be presented and use the maximum of our capacity,” Roberto Lavagna said.

The former minister during the administration of president Nestor Kirchner also recommended the Argentine government to “negotiate” with New York Judge Thomas Griesa in order to reach an agreement with holdout investors.

“The message of (judge) Griesa is reasonable and conciliatory. We must take the opportunity that he gives to negotiate,” Lavagna considered.

“There are those who say we have to negotiate on our knees, which is absurd. And there is also those who want to ignore the debt and do not comply with any obligation,” he said.

“If you leave aside both extremes, explore all the mechanisms to win time, without hiding away, you notice the subtlety there was in Griesa’s surprising statements to sit and negotiate, some reasonable solution can come up,” the economist who is now aligned with the main opposition party underlined.

“The use of the word extortion was a message for supporters and does not help. It might be that among that verbosity that was a little bit aggressive there could be a door open (to negotiate)” Lavagna said in reference to President Cristina Fernández who on Monday went on national television and accused 'vulture funds' of “extorting” Argentina.