Macri to CFK: ‘Don’t turn YPF debate into a partisan issue’

City Mayor Mauricio Macri urged President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner not to turn the YPF expropriation debate “into a partisan issue” on Saturday after the Head of State accused him of making “nonsensical statements” related to the Government’s controversial decision.

“I’d like to ask the President not to turn this into a partisan issue. This isn’t about us, it’s about thinking of what’s a priority for all Argentines,” he said after ratifying that the PRO party “will be voting against the YPF expropriation.”

Macri’s response was sparked by the President’s recent statements on the mayor and his alleged change of mind on the matter, since one day after the announcement he called on a press conference to express with disapproval of the measure, but later acknowledged that were he elected president in 2015, the oil company would continue to belong to the state. 

Speaking on a radio show, the mayor insisted that “only someone who is poorly informed, poorly advised or makes a superficial analysis of things can believe that there is a contradiction” between his rejection to the expropriation and his most recent statements.

“If we’ve already caused the damage and paid for the company, then there’s just no point in going back to where we were four years earlier,” he explained.

He insisted, however, that the PRO party will be voting against the expropriation because “it goes against the Argentine people’s interests. We broke our word in an arrogant way, it’s foolish.” 

Macri then added that taking YPF away from Repsol “discredits the Argentine people and closes doors.”

During a ceremony on Friday, Fernández de Kirchner referred to Macri’s speech condemning the expropriation, in which he said he was “concerned” over the future of all Argentines, including his daughter, who he saw “so unprotected” sleeping in her crib.

Ironically, the President said his change of heart regarding the expropriation could have come because “his daughter, who is maybe more intelligent than her father, told him he was talking nonsense.”