Milei denies that Scholz mentioned the social impact of reforms in Argentina

The president of Argentina, Javier Mileidenied this Monday that the German chancellor, Olaf Scholzmentioned to him, in the meeting they held in Berlin, the impact on the social situation of the strong reforms that the Argentine is making to lower inflation.

“He never mentioned that to me“, “in any moment“, answered Milei in an interview on Miter radio in Argentina, since the official German statement indicated that Scholz stressed the importance of “social compatibility” of the reforms undertaken by the libertarian.

Milei met with the head of the German Government during the third stop of his European tour – which the Argentine president describes as “an excellent trip”- which began in Madrid, continued in Hamburg, and after passing through Berlin, he will meet this Monday with the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, the conservative Petr Fiala.

“Far from questioning the social policy, (the German authorities) consider it, because they understand that in the face of an adjustment of this caliber and the initial conditions, the social policy has had to be extremely good, because compared to what we have done, it would have been a catastrophe if we had not acted correctly“Milei explained in another part of the interview.

Milei has managed to achieve a fiscal surplus in the first five months of the year, from a deficit of 6% of GDP in 2023, at the cost of a harsh adjustment, which allowed it to decelerate inflation to a rate of 4.2% monthly last May and 276.4% year-on-year.

“It was a very productive meeting” and “extremely positive“, he highlighted Milei when talking about his meeting with Scholzthe first he has had with a social democratic leader since he assumed the presidency on December 10.

“The German minister asked us about how the economic program was working, given that (Germany) has an important weight in the IMF“, since Argentina intends to renegotiate (with the IMF) the financing program for more than US$ 41,000 million, and “What were the prospects for the future?”he explained Milei.

“We have talked about the problems of German companies in Argentina and how we were making progress in solving these problems.”Milei added.

Germany is the eighth foreign investor in Argentina, with interests in the manufacturing, mineral and oil extraction and retail and wholesale trade sectors, and with the presence of companies such as Siemens, Volkswagen and Bayer.

The Argentine president also referred to the “issue of natural resources, of extreme importance for Germany”, which “it would be motivating many investments to be made in Argentina”, as both leaders addressed global energy security and the importance of having critical minerals.

Milei He mentioned that, as indicated in the official statement issued at the end of the meeting, they also discussed Argentina’s entry into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the integration of Mercosur with the European Union (EU).

In addition, they discussed Argentina’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and agreed that Russia has it in its power to end the war of aggression against Ukraine.