Rousseff wants to discuss Argentina debt crisis with G20
President Rousseff welcomes President Cristina Kirchner, in Brasilia (Roberto Stuckert Filho/Presidência da República)
President Dilma Rousseff intends to raise the discussion on the judicialization of Argentina's foreign debt with the G20 (a group of the 19 largest world economies plus the European Union). Rousseff is opposed to the so-called vulture funds' suing Argentina for $15 billion, which she says has brought “instability” to sovereign debt negotiations.
“You might have heard that Brazil has hired a lawyer and filed a brief with the lawsuit as an amicus curiae to Argentina. This lawsuit has created instability in sovereign debt negotiations, which is very serious (...) and renders the whole debate as imponderable,” the president told journalists in an interview following the China-Brazil and CELAC Leaders' Summit in Brasília.
The term “amicus curiae” is Latin for “friend of the court”, and is used to refer to someone who is summoned or offers to intervene in a lawsuit to which they are not a party in order to convey their opinion on the judicial matter.
“Raising it with the G20 is not just about complaining to them. It's more about saying – look, there's a very serious focus of instability in the whole system for negotiating sovereign debts, which by the way was a central topic in the G20 meeting in 2011, 2012, and part of 2013's,” Rousseff said.
The so-called vulture funds won a court case in the US to receive the full amount of the debt bonds on Argentina's 2001 default. These bonds were bought at low prices from investors who refused to accept a debt restructuring proposal in 2005.
Rousseff advocated clear rules for negotiating foreign debts as a way to ensure stability of the international financial system. She noted that in the case of Argentina, 92% of all creditors agreed to restructure the government debt without taking legal action to seek the full amount.
“We financial stability. We think that some time in the future any country, as has been the case with Greece and other European countries, may need to negotiate their sovereign debts, so we want to have clear rules there. You can't simply carry out negotiations all the way through and suddenly have all the deals dismantled,” she criticized.
On Wednesday (July 16), Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner thanked the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and UNASUR (Union of South American Nations) for their regarding the vulture funds. She also called for an end to what she called “international financial looting”.
*With additional reporting by Danilo Macedo
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Rousseff wants to discuss Argentina debt crisis with G20
