DIPLOMACY: SPAIN’S ALBARES RAISES THE NEED FOR LEGAL CERTAINTY FOR INVESTMENT WITH ARGENTINA’S MONDINO​

By Luis Ayllón* / The Diplomat in Spain

– February 19, 2024

The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, raised with his Argentine counterpart, Diana Mondino, the need for legal security for Spanish investments in Argentina, during a meeting they held yesterday in Munich, in the margins of the Security Conference, according to diplomatic sources consulted by The Diplomat.

Albares and the Argentine President’s Chancellor, Javier Milei, had already had the opportunity to talk briefly during the Davos World Forum, and the possibility of the Minister traveling to Buenos Aires at the end of this month was even raised, but, finally, yesterday’s meeting seems to rule out that possibility for the time being.

Bilateral relations and the negotiations for the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, which Spain tried to promote during its last European Community Presidency, but which now seem to be at a standstill, were also present in the ministers’ conversation.

Albares himself referred to these last two matters in his account on the social network X, in which he added: “Spain is working with Argentina for the benefit of our two peoples”.

The sources consulted insisted that they also talked about the important investments that Spain has in Argentina, where it is the second world investor, and where about 140 Spanish companies are established, after many of them decided to leave the country during the last years of the Peronist governments, due to the obstacles they were encountering.

Perhaps for this reason, Albares insisted before Diana Mondino on the need for legal certainty for Spanish investment, at a time of very relevant political change with the arrival of the ultra-liberal Javier Milei to the Presidency of the nation.

One of the first concerns of the Spanish Executive after the arrival of Milei to the Casa Rosada, has been the impact that some of the measures adopted by the new Government, which plans to take fishing quotas to international auction and that anyone can bid for them, could have for Galician fishermen. “This means not respecting the investments made so far or the historical rights or anything, it goes against the principle of legal certainty,” said spokesmen for the Spanish fishermen, after hearing the news, recalling that until now, they have been operating with joint ventures, with Argentine and Galician capital. “Right now you cannot qualify for quotas if there is no Argentine company behind you and we work together,” they said.

Albares assured a few weeks ago in parliamentary seat that he is “personally following” this issue. “Fishing is a key sector for Spain on which many families depend and this government, do not doubt it, will protect their interests if they are threatened,” he said, specifying that there are contacts to guarantee it.

MILEI’S VISIT IN JUNE

In the conversation between the two ministers, Milei’s visit to Spain was discussed, after the presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, announced a few days ago that the Argentinean president will receive the 2024 Award of the Juan de Mariana Institute in Madrid on June 21, together with the economist Jesús Huerta de Soto or the writer Mario Vargas Llosa and other personalities. The Juan de Mariana Institute is a “think tank” born in 2005, dedicated to the investigation of public affairs and, on its web page, it can be read that the award has been granted to Milei for “an exemplary life in defense of freedom”.

During this visit, Milei will be received by the King, who was present at his inauguration, after the electoral triumph of last November 19, and it is expected that he will go to La Moncloa to meet the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, even though the latter -who had clearly supported the Peronist candidate Sergio Massa- did not call him to congratulate him. The Government only issued a statement a few days later, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which it wished “success to Argentina in this new stage” and noted that “the Argentines voted democratically”.

In any case, in that communiqué, the Executive added that “Spain will continue to promote the relationship with Argentina in favor of the welfare and prosperity of our peoples, both bilaterally and in the Ibero-American and multilateral spheres”.

Milei and Sánchez coincided in the last Davos Forum, in which, in different interventions, they held different positions on the economic model, because the Argentine leader, with a very liberal approach, was extremely critical of the socialist governments, while the Spaniard defended the Welfare State and the public-private cooperation between the State and the companies.

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* Luis Ayllón is the director of The Diplomat in Spain.

This article was originally published in The Diplomat in Spain, with whose permission we reproduce it here.