Eric Calcagno y Maillmann (born 9 April 1967) is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

sociologist, journalist, diplomat and politician. A member of the

Justicialist Party The Justicialist Party (, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei. Fo ...

, Calcagno served terms in both houses of the

Argentine Congress The National Congress of Argentina () is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies. The Senate, a third of whose members are elected to ...

, first as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from 2007 to 2011, and later as a

Deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

from 2011 to 2015. He was Argentina's ambassador to France from 2005 to 2007.

Early life and education

Born in

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

, Calcagno comes from a family with a strong background in academia and connections with France. His grandfather, Alfredo Domingo Calcagno, rector of the

National University of La Plata The National University of La Plata (, UNLP) is a national public research university located in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It has over 90,000 regular students, 10,000 teaching staff, 17 departments and 10 ...

, was the Argentine ambassador to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

in Paris during the

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

Arturo Frondizi Arturo Frondizi Ércoli (Paso de los Libres, October 28, 1908 – Buenos Aires, April 18, 1995) was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, teacher, statesman, and politician. He was elected president of Argentina and governed from May ...

. His father, Alfredo Eric Calcagno, studied at the

Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

before working for the

United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC, ECLAC or ''CEPAL'', in Spanish: ''Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe'') is a United Nations regional commission to encourage economic cooper ...

for more than twenty years. Calcagno studied at French schools and, in the early 1990s, graduated from the

École Nationale d'Administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

in France in public administration and from the Sorbonne in sociology.

Career

Calcagno worked as an economics consultant and journalist, including for '' Le Monde Diplomatique'' (

Southern Cone The Southern Cone (, ) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bounded on the west by the Pac ...

Edition), '' Diario Hoy'' of La Plata, the magazines '' Veintitrés'' and ''Veintitrés Internacional'' and

Terra Terra may often refer to: * Terra (mythology), primeval Roman goddess * An alternate name for planet Earth, as well as the Latin name for the planet Terra may also refer to: Geography Astronomy * Terra (satellite), a multi-national NASA scient ...

. With his father he co-wrote two books on politics and economics: ''Para entender la política, entre la ilusión de lo óptimo y la realidad de lo pésimo'' (English translation of title: How to understand politics. Between an utopian illusion and the worst reality), Editorial Norma (Buenos Aires, 1999) and ''La deuda externa explicada a todos (los que tienen que pagarla)'' (English translation of title: Foreign Debt Explained to Those Who Have to Pay it), Editorial Catálogos (Buenos Aires, 2000). He published ''Terra incógnita, crónica de la caída de la convertibilidad'' (English translation of title: Terrae Incognita: a chronicle of the fall of the dollar peg of the Argentine peso), a chronicle of the

1998–2002 Argentine great depression The 1998–2002 Argentine great depression was an economic depression in Argentina, which began in the third quarter of 1998 and lasted until the second quarter of 2002. It followed fifteen years of Economic history of Argentina#Stagnation (197 ...

, in 2005. He was known as a critic of neoliberal economics and the

Washington Consensus The Washington Consensus is a set of ten economic policy prescriptions considered in the 1980s and 1990s to constitute the "standard" reform package promoted for Economic crisis, crisis-wracked developing country, developing countries by the Was ...

. He teamed up with his father to teach economics at the National University of Lanús,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and taught a range of other universities, including as Director of the Centre of Studies of National Economic Thought (CEPEN) at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

Political career

In 2005, Calcagno was a reserve member on the

Front for Victory The Front for Victory (, FPV) was a centre-left Peronist electoral alliance in Argentina, and is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner were elected as representatives ...

list for the Senate for

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

. The list was headed by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and was successful in the October elections, winning the maximum two places. Shortly after the election, in December 2005, Calcagno was named Ambassador to France, after

Rafael Bielsa Rafael Antonio Bielsa Caldera (born February 15, 1953) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician from Rosario, province of Santa Fe. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2005. From 2020 to 2023 he was also Argentina's amba ...

had accepted that position only to reject it a day later in public. In 2007, upon the election of Fernández de Kirchner as President of Argentina, Calcagno replaced her in the Senate. However, within ten days he was granted a

leave of absence The labour law concept of leave, specifically paid leave or, in some countries' long-form, a leave of absence, is an authorised prolonged absence from work, for any reason authorised by the workplace. When people "take leave" in this way, they ar ...

to take up the President's offer of a position in government. He became subsecretary of Small and Medium Enterprises. Calcagno's post at the Senate was left vacant until July 2008, when the tax farm issue arose. In March the government tried to introduce a new taxation system on agricultural exports. Nationwide mass protests were the result and the government eventually was forced to send the government's farm exports tax proposal to the Argentine Congress. Calcagno had to leave his office and return to the Senate in order to vote in favour of the government, as a close tie was due. This vote was eventually decided by Vice-president

Julio Cobos Julio César “Cleto” Cobos (; born 30 April 1955) is an Argentine politician who was the Vice President of Argentina in the administration of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner from 2007 to 2011. He started his political career as mem ...

, who rejected the farm exports tax bill. Calcagno remained in the Senate, where he took over the chairmanship of the Infrastructure, Transport and Housing committee soon afterwards. He was elected National Deputy for the

in 2011 from the

party. His term expired on 10 December 2015.

References

External links

Official site of Eric Calcagno
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calcagno, Eric 1967 births Living people People from La Plata Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine people of French descent Ambassadors of Argentina to France Members of the Argentine Senate for Buenos Aires Province Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Province Argentine deputies 2013–2015 Argentine deputies 2011–2013 École nationale d'administration alumni University of Paris alumni Argentine male writers Argentine journalists Argentine male journalists Argentine economists Argentine sociologists