MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

With Milei, Macron insists France not signing EU-Mercosur FTA

“We don't always think alike on many issues,” Macron said about Milei

French President Emmanuel Macron told his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei once again during their meeting Sunday at Casa Rosada that his country would not sign the European Union (EU)-Southern Common Market (Mercosur) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) “as is.”

 The European leader thus stood for the French farmers who demonstrated against such a deal. Macron also tried to persuade Milei not to act alone on climate issues. French farmers fear a flood of Latin American meat and warn of unfair competition from products that are not subject to Europe's strict environmental and sanitary standards.

“I told the Argentine president very sincerely and clearly that today France would not sign this Mercosur treaty as it stands,” Macron told reporters before leaving for Rio de Janeiro for the G20 Summit. “He told me himself that he was not satisfied” with the current wording, he added.

“We don't always think alike on many issues,” Macron said regarding his Argentine counterpart before meeting with him this Sunday, “but it is very useful to exchange ideas to prepare” for the G20, which both will attend on Monday and Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro.

”We will continue to work hard to defend our model (...) If we are all reasonable, there is a way forward, but it will not be at the expense of our farmers,” Macron also said.

This weekend's discussions in Buenos Aires also revolved around Paris' intentions to sell submarines to Argentina. Buenos Aires is said to be interested in three units, but any arrangement in this regard has been stalled due to financing problems.

Since the sinking of the ARA San Juan seven years ago and the cancellation of the modernization of the Santa Cruz submarine, the Argentine Navy no longer has a submarine fleet.

Vying for the sale are the German shipyard TKMS and the French Naval Group, which is offering its best-selling Scorpène diesel-electric submarines for an estimated value of € 1.8 billion. Although France is willing to grant favorable credit terms, the banks are not. In addition, there are political and diplomatic issues: Naval Group has invested in a shipyard in Brazil to produce Scorpenes, but ties between Milei and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are not optimal, to put it mildly.

France's head of State spent almost an entire day in the Argentine capital after landing on Saturday evening at the Ezeiza International Airport. During his stay, he laid a wreath as a tribute to French nuns Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet who were murdered during the 1976-1983 dictatorship.

Macron's five-person entourage included Christel Bories, the president of the French mining and metallurgical company Eramet.