The Diplomat in Spain

Rajoy and Fernandez de Kirchner, in a meeting before Repsol crisis.

Luis Ayllón. Madrid

The Governments of Spain and Argentina can be in their way towards reconciliation after two years of distancing as a consequence of the expropriation of Repsol’s shares in YPF. Prime Minister Cristina Fernández de Kirchner wants Mariano Rajoy to visit her country in July, to open a new stage in the bilateral relations, and, in a few weeks, she will send her minister of Foreign Affairs, Héctor Timerman, to Madrid to get the invitation to the head of the Spanish Executive.

Timerman will be received by his Spanish colleague, José Manuel García-Margallo, and their meeting will mark a new milestone in the rapprochement that the two Governments are trying to carry out since, in November 2013, the Argentinian Executive closed a deal with Repsol to pay the Spanish oil company more than 5,000 million dollars in government bonds in compensation for the expropriation of 51 per cent of its shares in YPF.

From that moment on, the climate in the bilateral relations has been improving, as a sign the fact that Timerman and members of the Cabinet of the Argentinian Prime Minister have received the Spanish ambassador, Estanislao de Grandes, in several occasions and that Rajoy and Kirchner talked on the phone after the agreement.

Signs of distancing had been numerous before that. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner did not attend the Ibero-American Summit celebrated in Cadiz in November 2012 and she did not meet Rajoy when he was in Buenos Aires less than a year ago to support Spain’s candidacy for the Olympic Games of 2020 either.

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The Argentinian minister of Foreign Affairs travels to Madrid to invite Rajoy to visit Buenos Aires

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The moment when the visit of the Spanish Prime Minister could take place would be during the first two weeks of July, taking advantage of the visit Rajoy is expected to make to Brasil to be present in some of the matches of the Spanish national team, especially if it passes the play-off round and then plays at knockout rounds, planned for the first two weeks of the next month.

Diplomatic sources consulted by “The Diplomat” consider as something likely to happen that they set a date for the visit, because Spain has great interest in ending the anomalous situation of the last two years. Argentina is considered a country with which, apart from some isolated conflicts derived fundamentally from disagreements with Spanish companies, it is essential to maintain a strategic relationship, both because of its role in Latin America and because of the present strong historical, cultural and human connections.