Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, yesterday summoned the Argentine ambassador to Spain, Roberto Bosch, to demand that the president of his country, Javier Milei, publicly withdraw his words against the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and his wife, Begoña Gómez. The Argentine Government has already warned that it will not apologize and the minister has not made it clear whether the “measures” planned by the Spanish Government include the breaking of relations.
As Foreign Affairs sources informed The Diplomat, Albares conveyed to Bosch “the demand for a public rectification regarding Javier Milei’s words yesterday, Sunday.” The meeting, according to the same sources, “has taken place within the channels of respect and diplomatic courtesy that both the Government and the minister maintain at all times.”
The call came one day after Albares himself called the Spanish ambassador in Buenos Aires, María Jesús Alonso, for consultations, in response to statements by Milei during a Vox event in Madrid, in which, without expressly citing neither to Sánchez nor to his wife, but in clear reference to both, he described Begoña Gómez as “corrupt.” Albares also issued an institutional statement in La Moncloa in which he demanded that the Argentine president apologize and accused him of having surpassed “any type of political and ideological difference” with his demonstrations.
In statements to several media outlets (Cadena SER, Onda Cero, TVE, Antena 3, Telecinco, and La Sexta), Albares warned yesterday that the Government “will act accordingly” and will adopt “the appropriate measures” if the Argentine president does not publicly apologizes for his “very serious words.” According to the minister, Milei was received “in good faith”, but “he has used his presence in the capital of Spain to launch a frontal attack against the Presidency of the Government.”
The minister did not specify what these measures would be – to questions from the media about a possible break in diplomatic relations – and chose “not to advance events.” “We await these public apologies and from now on we will act accordingly if they do not occur. We do not want to exercise these measures, but if there is no public apology we are going to do it,” warned Albares, who, however, wanted to convey a “message of total tranquility to the brother people of Argentina”, to the Argentines who live in Spain and to the Spaniards who reside in Argentina, whose “fraternal relations” the Government will continue to take care of.
Albares was very critical of the positions of Vox, for “cheering and applauding that attack,” and of the PP. “No one asks the PP not to oppose the Government, what is asked of it is to defend the institutions that are the basis of our sovereignty,” he declared. “Once again I have been deeply disappointed,” he added.
Likewise, Pedro Sánchez declared yesterday, during his speech at the CREO economic forum -organized by the newspaper Cinco Días in Madrid- that “Spain and Argentina are two brother countries whose people love and respect each other.” “Between governments, affections are free, but respect is inalienable,” he continued. “Whoever spoke yesterday did not do so on behalf of the great Argentine people,” he warned. “Defending Spanish institutions from the insults and defamations of foreign leaders does not mean ifs or buts: beyond ideology, there are education and patriotism,” he concluded.
Sources from the leadership of the People’s Party indicated to various media that the work of this formation is to “oppose the president of Spain, not the president of Argentina,” and accused the PSOE of using Milei’s speech to “mobilize” its electorate of facing the European elections. However, the director of the PP’s electoral campaign, Esteban González Pons, declared yesterday to Onda Cero that “Milei’s speech yesterday is, of course, an interference in national politics.” “In addition, it is a spectacle that I will describe as shocking,” he continued. “The elected president of Argentina cannot, on his first trip to Spain, come without greeting the King, without greeting the Government” and participate in an event with VOX “to stir up Spanish politics,” he added. However, he warned, the wife of the Spanish president “is not a state matter.”
For his part, the spokesman for the Argentine Presidency, Manuel Adorni, warned early Sunday morning that Milei “is not going to apologize because he doesn’t have to.” “He made no mention of Begoña. “They took the case as their own and related what Milei was saying to what actually happened with Sánchez’s wife,” he declared to the LN+ television network. “You can rest assured that there will not be an apology,” he added.
Adorni accused the Spanish authorities of raising tensions “in bad faith” over what would be a “personal” issue between Sánchez and Milei, and indicated that he trusts that Argentina and Spain can “reconduct” relations once the conflicts have been overcome. European elections.
A spokesperson for the Casa Rosada confirmed in statements to Europa Press that Milei maintains on her agenda the trip to the capital of Spain scheduled for June 21, in order to receive the Juan de Mariana Prize. Before the incidents last weekend were recorded, the possibility had been raised that the Argentine president would ask to hold meetings with the Spanish authorities during that visit, an intention that is now unknown if it is maintained.
