EU-Mercosur deal, nuclear talks top agenda as Milei meets Macron

President Javier Milei met Monday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of a UN conference in Nice, with the duo discussing Argentina’s nuclear plans, a potential partnership on critical minerals and the proposed free-trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur.

Milei’s visit to the south of France – nominally to visit the 2025 UN Oceans Conference, which runs June 9 to 13 –  was seen as a gesture of goodwill towards his peer. Despite ideological differences, they have a good relationship and have met frequently in the past. 

It is all the more notable given the Argentine leader’s historic hostility towards the United Nations, which he has starkly criticised in the past, notably over its Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals. 

According to government officials, Milei chose to participate in the event at Macron’s personal request.

Accompanying Milei at the event were Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein, Argentina’s Ambassador to France Ian Sielecki and PRO party deputy Fernando Iglesias. 

The latter revealed in a post on social media that talks focused on the EU-Mercosur deal. Iglesias also revealed that the President of the European Council, António Costa, approached Milei to underline the importance of the sweeping free-trade deal, which is facing resistance from European agricultural sectors, most notably in France.

According to reports, Macron was full of praise for the economic reforms introduced in Argentina by Milei.

During their exchange, Macron also pledged that France, as a global leader in nuclear energy, would help advance Argentina’s Nuclear Plan, announced by President Milei in December 2024. The plan aims to position Argentina at the forefront of global energy production and attract international investment.

The two leaders also discussed a bilateral agreement over the exploitation of critical minerals, a move that would encourage French investment and financing in the extraction of resources such as lithium and copper, as well as enable scientific cooperation to identify additional mineral deposits in Argentina.

Milei, for his part, welcomed France’s support in Argentina’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) money-laundering watchdog and its relationship with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) and NATO. He also celebrated French investment in sectors such as mining, energy, and the automotive industry.

According to official government sources, who asked not to be identified, the Franco-Argentine bilateral relationship is “at its highest level of political closeness in decades.”They also forecast increased coordination between the two presidents going forward.

This marks the third meeting between the two leaders, following Macron’s visit to Argentina on November 17. 

On this occasion, Milei’s delegation presented Macron with a collection of books by Spanish economist Jesús Huerta de Soto, one of the President’s ideological beacons.

– TIMES/NA/PERFIL