The opposition candidate Mauricio Macri to the Argentine presidency (Agustin Marcarian / SEE)
The arrival of Mauricio Macri for president of Argentina must rebuild the political and economic relations with Brazil, and oxygenate a stagnant Mercosur largely by trade barriers created by Kirchner in recent years. Elected on Sunday, he even claimed there two weeks, that if it won the race, his first trip abroad would be to Brazil. Possession of Madrid is scheduled for December 10.
Despite the ideological distance that separates it from the Workers Party (PT), Macri bet on a stronger partnership with Brazil. "We are open to work by the approach of the two countries, and we believe that Argentina will dialogue vocation and seek solutions with Brazil," said Fulvio Pompeo, advisor for external relations Marci during a lunch offered by the Presidential Palace to the main members the international team of the Argentine candidate in the Brazilian embassy earlier this month.
Professor of the Graduate in Political Science at UFRGS Program, Rodrigo González Stumpf, is optimistic about the opening in the Argentine economy and change in the relationship with Mercosur."An Argentine government with a prospect of more open economy to the international market can be beneficial for Brazilian companies."
The economic stagnation, unemployment and the need for political support of the Brazilian government and the Argentine requirement to show positive economic results, control inflation and letting the currency rise, should closer the two nations. "Although the Brazilian and Argentine governments may be ideologically on opposite sides after Macri's election, both have greater needs that would lead them to join," explains Professor Marcus Vinicius de Freitas.
The bilateral relationship between Argentina and Brazil cooled during the first government of Dilma Rousseff, who started a year before the second term of Cristina Kirchner. "Argentina chose to seek a strategic alliance with China and Russia in the second term of Cristina, advancing agreements involving satellites and nuclear energy and giving openness to Chinese investment - benefits that never offered to Brazil," said Argentine political analyst Rosendo Fraga , director of the Study Center Unión para la Nueva mayoría. The Argentine government has also approached Venezuela. In the last UN General Assembly, Cristina met only two world leaders: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Nicolás Maduro.
Macri must tread a different path. Just over a week, the new president said he is opposed to politicians seeking reelection followed a veiled criticism of Bolivian President Evo Morales, who tries to extend the limits of its mandate. Also criticized the arrest of the Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez by Maduro's government. "That's not what makes a democratic government," Macri said, indicating that it could distance itself from leftist South American leaders.
"The alliance with China and Russia may be abandoned as the axis of Argentine foreign policy, giving way to US, EU and Brazil," says Rosendo Fraga.
(From the Newsroom)
