In Argentina, Macron defends climate agreements and French farmers with Milei

Emmanuel Macron met with Argentinian President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires on Sunday, with the dual objective of “defending” French farmers who are protesting against the trade agreement with Mercosur, and convincing this ultra-liberal not to go it alone on the climate.

After a very symbolic tribute to the victims, notably French, of the Argentine military dictatorship, the French head of state went to the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, where he was welcomed by his counterpart, accused of revisionism on this dark page in the history of the Latin American country.

A second tête-à-tête after dinner the day before, at the start of this six-day tour of Latin America.

“We are going to talk about our commercial interests, our trade, the defense of our agriculture and our farmers,” Emmanuel Macron said Saturday on social networks on the plane taking him to Argentina.

“We don't always think the same thing on many subjects,” he added, “but it is very useful to exchange ideas to prepare” for the G20, which the two men will participate in Monday and Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro.

The visit is taking place in a particular context.

In France, supported by a political class united in rare unanimity, farmers are mobilizing against the free trade agreement that the European Commission, pushed by several countries such as Germany and Spain, hopes to sign by the end of the year with Mercosur, the regional bloc that includes Argentina and the Brazil.

They fear a flood of Latin American meat, and warn against unfair competition from products that are not subject to the strict environmental and health standards in force in Europe.

In Buenos Aires and then in Rio, Emmanuel Macron will be the spokesperson for this refusal, even if it is mainly the other Europeans that he must convince not to ignore French opposition. He insists that Paris rejects this text “as is”, demanding that it include respect for these standards and also the Paris Agreement on climate.

However, Javier Milei is an admirer of Donald Trump, a climate skeptic like the Republican who has just made a thunderous comeback by winning the American presidential election.

Argentina has just withdrawn its delegation from the COP29 climate negotiations in Baku and speculation is rife about its possible withdrawal from the Paris Agreement – a gesture that Donald Trump made during his first term.

Emmanuel Macron therefore hoped, according to his entourage, to “reconnect” the Argentine president with the “international consensus” and the “priorities of the G20”, particularly in terms of the fight against global warming.

– “We have not forgotten you” –

On Sunday, the French head of state, accompanied by his wife Brigitte Macron, began the day by paying tribute at the Santa Cruz church, a place of memory of the resistance against the dictatorship (1976-1983).

“We have not forgotten you,” he told relatives of victims. In December 1977, several founding members of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who were demanding information about their missing relatives, were arrested, tortured and murdered after meeting in this church.

Among the victims were French nuns Léonie Duquet and Alice Domon, who were abducted and killed by the dictatorship. In all, at least 22 French people have been counted among the dead or missing from that period.

“I thank you for your presence,” “especially at this time,” one of the victims' relatives told the French president on Sunday. Another asked him “that political and economic interests should not make us forget the ideal or (…) the hope of doing justice.”

Javier Milei, in power for eleven months, and even more so his vice-president Victoria Villaruel, who comes from a military family, are accused of revisionism by human rights organizations. They do not hesitate to revisit the military junta's record: while the generally accepted record of human rights organizations is 30,000 dead, Javier Milei mentions fewer than 9,000 victims.

In July, six deputies from the ruling party visited Alfredo Astiz and other former military personnel convicted of crimes against humanity in prison. Astiz, a 73-year-old former navy captain, was sentenced twice in Argentina to life imprisonment, notably for the kidnapping and disappearance of the French nuns. In France, he was sentenced in his absence to life imprisonment in 1990 for the same case.

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