Argentina's Sovereign Debt's Crisis before Different Fora

• Author: Agustina Noeli Vazquez
• Position: Financiamiento Internacional Ministerio de Trabajo, Empleo y Seguridad Social, Argentina
• Pages: 28-39

ACTA UNIVERSITATIS DANUBIUS Vol. 12, no. 2/2016

28

European and International Law

Argentina’s Sovereign Debt’s Crisis

before Different Fora

Agustina Noeli VAZQUEZ

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Abstract: On 10 September 2015, the United Nations general assembly voted on nine principles

concerning the restructuring of sovereign debts. It has been largely related with the ongoing economic

Greek crisis, however it is more accurate to consider this resolution as one of the latest outcomes of the

long Argentinean debt crisis and its international repercussions.For over 20 years Argentina has been

in the centre of international scene when talking about sovereign debt. It survived the 2001 crisis and

its recovery, is one of the fewest in world history. However, its sovereign debt restructuration in 2006

ended up before courts all over the world. This produced an unthinkable effect: it showed us how much

has international law developed over these last years in orde r to adapt itself to this new reality were

States are no longer the only big players in the international arena. This paper pretends to focus on the

Argentinean cases before International Courts. Having proved its value to the International Law field,

this paper might be con sidered a small contribution in the tumultuous path to understand sovereign

debt’s regulation.

Keywords: Sovereign debt; International Law; Soft Law; NML vs. Argentina

1. Between Highway to Hell and Stairway to Heaven: Argentina’s Debt

Crisis

Sovereign debt is debt taken out by a country, either from another country (often

distinguished as “public debt”) or from a private creditor, such as a bank or an

international credit organization (Barr, 2016, p. 1). Every country has sovereign debt

and as debtors, they may sell the sovereign debt (in the form of bonds) to other

creditors (Gosis, 2013, pp. 3-5). As debt grows, payments increase, and therefore

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Financiamiento Internacional Ministerio de Trabajo, Empleo y Seguridad Social, Argentina, Address:

Av Leandro N. Alem 650, C1001AAO, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, República Argentina,

Corresponding author: agvazquez@trabajo.gob.ar.

AUDJ, vol. 12, no. 2/2016, pp. 28-39