Former president Mauricio Macri returned to the political foreground this week with a host of meetings with members of the opposition Juntos por el Cambio coalition.
The PRO party founder, who drew attention last week after meeting with former US president Donald Trump in Florida, has been the subject of speculation in recent weeks as rumours over a 2023 presidential run have reignited.
Macri, who has not confirmed whether he intends to run in the next presidential election in 2013, began his week with a quiet dinner at the Happening parrilla in Costanera Sur.
While the meeting itself was not notable, the company definitely was – it was attended by coalition heavyweights Patricia Bullrich, Horacio Rodríguez Larretta, María Eugenia Vidal and Federico Pinedo, a group that analysts immediately dubbed la "nueva mesa chica" of PRO.
In his most high-profile appearance of the week, the former president appeared in public with Rodríguez Larretta as the duo toured a school in Nueva Pompeya. Analysts saw the visit as a sign that Macri is once again on good terms with the Buenos Aires City mayor, who has his own presidential ambitions.
"We always work, we are a great team and we have come to visit yet another school that we have opened. There are already more than a hundred. It is the most important thing because here there is a future", said Macri at the end of the visit to Nueva Escuela Primaria N° 21.
The former president, 63, also spent time with PRO deputies in Buenos Aires Province. Hosting the lawmakers at his Olivos offices, Macri’s team framed the meeting as related to his work as president of the FIFA Foundation. Sources said, however, that those gathered spoke about coalition unity and how to prepare for the 2023 election
The former president also found time for a meeting with the head of the Juntos por el Cambio senatorial bloc, Alfredo Cornejo, at Macri’s offices in San Isidro. During an hour-long chat the duo discussed the coalition’s future, the 2023 election and the “need to have a programme before a candidate.”
Macri won’t be spending all his time in Buenos Aires in the immediate future, however. Next week he will fly to the United States to give classes on April 19 and 20 at Georgetown University. He is then expected to travel to Spain and Italy.
– TIMES with agencies
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