Paris city hall has called for an inquiry into the management of the Maison de l’Argentine, a university residence in the French capital, following controversies since Argentine President Javier Milei’s government appointed a conservative-linked director in 2024.
In a letter made public on August 19, deputy mayors Mélody Tonolli and Audrey Pulvar asked Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, to open an investigation into the “management and functioning” of the residence, located within the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris.
Tonolli holds the university, research and student life portfolio at city hall, while Pulvar is responsible for international and European relations. Both were appointed in March by Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire.
The campus hosts around 12,000 students, researchers and artists from some 150 nationalities across 47 residential houses, according to the foundation that runs it.
The two officials raised concerns over the alleged eviction of several residents without a permanent alternative for the coming academic year. They also criticised the reported removal of a memorial plaque commemorating the 30,000 people who disappeared during Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship.
The plaque, installed in 2022, was taken down in early March. Philippe Baptiste, France’s minister for higher education, research and space, had it reinstalled on the outside of the building on April 19.
The letter also alleges that meetings promoting what the two officials termed “far-right”, “negationist”, hateful and discriminatory ideologies had been permitted at the residence. Those characterisations are the city hall’s own.
The officials said that, if confirmed, such events would warrant a “firm protest” from Paris city hall.
The controversy centres on Santiago Muzio de Place, a Franco-Argentine lawyer who has headed the Maison de l’Argentine since 2024 after being appointed under Milei’s government.
The residence houses about 90 researchers, artists and students. Thirteen of them were told in June that they had to leave by the end of that month, according to an investigation published by the French outlet Mediacités.
Muzio has run the Madrid branch of the Institute of Social, Economic and Political Sciences (ISSEP), a private political school co-founded by French MEP Marion Maréchal, and still appears among its teaching staff.
Maréchal, elected to the European Parliament in 2024, leads the Identité-Libertés party and sits with the European Conservatives and Reformists group.
The appointment has drawn scrutiny because of Muzio’s links to conservative political circles in Argentina and Europe.
The Maison de l’Argentine, established in 1928, was the first national house on the campus from a country outside the French-speaking world. It has faced several controversies since his arrival.
The house is funded by the Argentine State and overseen by the education secretariat within the human capital ministry, headed by Sandra Pettovello.
Muzio reportedly refused to sign the Cité internationale universitaire’s values charter, which includes commitments against discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. The charter also binds signatories to human dignity and to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression.
National houses including those of Japan, Canada, Germany and Denmark have suspended or limited exchanges with the Argentine residence.
In June the Assembly of Argentine Citizens in France, which brings together current and former residents, former directors of the house and figures from academic and cultural life in both countries, published a letter calling for Muzio to step down.
Paris officials are now asking the French Government to intervene with Argentine authorities and remind them of the rules governing the international university campus, including “neutrality, pluralism, academic freedom and non-discrimination”.
Tonolli and Pulvar wrote that they had also contacted Jean-Marc Sauvé, president of the Cité internationale universitaire, Paris academy rector Julie Benetti and Baptiste. No inquiry had been opened by the time the letter was sent, they said.
The letter lands weeks before Milei is due in Paris from September 30 to October 2 to lead an Argentine trade and investment week, with a reception at the Élysée Palace expected.
Neither the French foreign ministry, the higher education ministry, nor Muzio and the Maison de l’Argentine have responded publicly to the allegations.
