President Milei met French President Emmanuel Macron for about 40 minutes at the Élysée Palace in Paris on Thursday, in talks that Argentine officials said centered on the investments French companies were announcing at Argentina Week, the government's investor roadshow in the French capital, as well as artificial intelligence.

Karina Milei, the presidency's secretary general, and Brigitte Macron joined the meeting, which had been set as the centerpiece of the Paris trip. It was followed by a wider gathering at the palace with Argentine ministers, the provincial governors traveling with Milei, Argentine executives and French officials and business leaders, where both presidents spoke and took questions. The press was not admitted and there was no news conference. The visit followed an interview in which Milei told French broadcaster LCI that Europe was "sinking".

The French side asked how Argentina sustains its fiscal surplus and how it carried out its spending cuts, according to La Nación, Clarín and Infobae; Argentine officials quoted by Ámbito called it the main question, and one that worries the French "a lot". France's own government is pushing a 2027 budget built on about €54 billion in savings, which brought hundreds of thousands of protesters onto French streets on Tuesday.

The Pitch to Investors

Earlier on Thursday, in a keynote at the headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Milei said his government had spent the year preparing "a bazooka of dollars" for the run-up to the 2027 presidential election: US$20 billion in central bank reserve purchases, US$20 billion from the swap line with the United States, US$20 billion from the swap with China and US$15 billion in its futures position, about US$75 billion in all. "We are well armed to face all the destabilizing and coup attempts," he said, calling Argentine election seasons times of "destabilizing maneuvers".

Milei promised that if he is re-elected, "2028 will be the best economic year in our history," and offered Europe "abundant energy from a peaceful region, aligned with Western values and far from any kind of conflict." He also acknowledged the political risk: "We know we are in the electric chair. We know the constraints, but we play better than them and we are going to win."

Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger, who closed the day's sessions at the OECD, said fiscal balance is "non-negotiable" for the president and that the surplus came from spending cuts, not tax increases. In a separate room, Deputy Economy Minister José Luis Daza and Central Bank President Santiago Bausili met fund managers including JP Morgan Asset Management and BlackRock, whose questions centered on whether reserves will cover debt payments, according to Clarín and Infobae. Argentina's country-risk index climbed on Thursday to its highest level in ten months, extending a rise that took it above 600 points last week.

The Announcements

TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanné said the French company has "close to US$10 billion of investments ahead of us in Argentina." The plans include a US$1.5 billion offshore gas development off Tierra del Fuego, to be named Alberdi after Juan Bautista Alberdi, one of the architects of the 1853 Constitution, and about US$5 billion for the San Roque oil block in the Vaca Muerta shale formation in Neuquén. The company will seek the tax and customs benefits of the RIGI, the government's incentive regime for large investments, and Pouyanné credited the government with letting companies send dividends abroad again.

French miner Eramet said, after its chief executive Christel Bories met Milei, that it will apply to the RIGI for a first expansion of its Centenario-Ratones lithium plant in Salta, a potential investment of about US$350 million that would raise capacity from 24,000 to 35,000 tonnes a year of lithium carbonate. The company said the investment remains subject to a final decision, which could come by the end of 2027.

The Governors

Milei also posed for a photo with the provincial governors who traveled with him, an allied group the government is courting for votes on the 2027 budget it sent to Congress in September and for an electoral reform that would scrap or suspend the PASO open primaries. Cabinet Chief Diego Santilli, who leads those negotiations, met the governors on Wednesday night. On Friday, the final day of the roadshow, Milei is due to meet Nobel-winning economist Philippe Aghion and receive an award from the Paris Economic Forum.

Thursday's announcements are pledges rather than signed projects: TotalEnergies' oil plan and Eramet's expansion still depend on RIGI applications and, in Eramet's case, a final investment decision that could take until the end of 2027. The fund managers' questions about reserves and debt payments, on a day when country risk hit a ten-month high, show that financial investors still want proof Argentina can meet its obligations through the 2027 election.