MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina to disregard EBY deal between Cartes and Macri

Duarte Frutos and Massa met earlier this week

Argentina's Economy Ministry told Paraguayan authorities at the Binational Yacyretá Entity (EBY) that the agreement between former Presidents Horacio Cartes and Mauricio Macri will no longer be put for consideration before Congress in Buenos Aires.

Paraguay's EBY Chief and former head of state Nicanor Duarte Frutos met earlier this week with Argentina's superminister Sergio Massa, who told him that the Argentine Congress will no longer review the Cartes-Macri agreement, which was heavily criticized in Paraguay because it set Yacyretá's debt with the Argentine Treasury at US$ 4.084 billion, as of December 31, 2015, with a 30-year term and a 10-year grace period.

Paraguayan politicians objected that their country was to pay half the bill while Argentina had consumed 94% of the plant's production and insisted that such a debt should have been reviewed by the Comptroller General.

Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico (PLRA) leader Efraín Alegre had filed a criminal lawsuit against Cartes for alleged breach of trust and criminal association.

EBY still needs “a renegotiation,” Paraguay's Secretary of the Executive Committee Alejandro Takahashi explained: ”From EBY we believe that it is absolutely necessary for the entity to be financially sustainable and truly allow security in the service of production and supply of electricity for both countries. In this sense, in the event that the Argentine Congress does not reach an agreement (...), we should work on another agreement, improving the conditions, or perhaps the points that have been questioned at the time also by the country's public opinion.”

He also noted Argentina's favorable political will to reverse the effects of the Cartes-Macri agreement.

(Source: Ultima Hora)