Luis Ayllón
The Government yesterday attacked the Argentine president, Javier Milei, on the eve of his arrival in Spain and reproached the president of the community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, for going to meet with him, without having previously informed the Executive.
Diplomatic sources assured that the Government “continues to treat the position of president of the Republic of Argentina, a sister nation of the Spanish, with the respect that such a High Magistracy deserves.”
“However – they stated – Javier Milei has shown a repeated attitude of seeking confrontation and offense to our institutions and our democracy, something unprecedented in international relations and diplomatic practices between nations.” And they added: “The Government of Spain remains vigilant in defense of Spanish institutions.”
The same sources pointed out that “it is surprising and anomalous that a foreign president does not request, in any of his first visits to Spain, an institutional meeting with his counterpart, as all presidents in the world do, while maintaining meetings of a private and with regional authorities.
And referring to the meeting that Isabel Díaz Ayuso plans to hold with Milei, to whom she will present today the International Medal of the Community of Madrid, the sources stated that the Madrid president “shows profound disloyalty towards the Spanish institutions, by going against of art. 5.2 of Law 2/2014 on Foreign Action and Service, approved during the mandate of Mariano Rajoy, and not informing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of his meeting with a foreign representative, as required by said Law.
Finally, they indicated that they hope that during his new visit to Spain, “Mr. Milei will live up to the Argentine people and respect the Spanish institutions, as the head of State that he is”, something that they consider he did not do in his previous stay in Madrid. “We hope that it will be like this now, due to the good relationship and the fraternal and historical affection between both peoples,” they concluded.
Milei traveled last night from Buenos Aires to Madrid, where today he will receive the Juan de Mariana Freedom Award, in addition to the aforementioned distinction from the Madrid Community.
The Argentine president’s spokesman said, days ago, that he had not planned any meeting with members of the Spanish Government. Apparently Milei directly requested the Royal House to be received by the King, but Zarzuela was reminded that matters related to foreign policy are the responsibility of the Executive and that Moncloa was where they should go. The result is that Felipe VI will not receive Milei on this occasion either, at whose inauguration in Buenos Aires last December he was present, although without the company of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, or any another minister.
The deputy secretary of Health and Education of the PP, Ester Muñoz. He considered it “normal” that a president within the framework of her powers “does what she considers appropriate” and highlighted what she considers to be the interest” of the Sánchez Executive in “opening and widening that gap with a sister country such as Argentina.”
For her part, PSOE spokesperson Esther Peña declared, in relation to Ayuso’s meeting with Milei, that PP and Vox “are fighting to see who pays more homage.”
In a debate in the plenary session of the Madrid Assembly, the socialist spokesperson, Juan Lobato, reproached Ayuso for his “constant provocation” and criticized him for awarding a medal in the name of all Madrid residents to whom he insults all of Spain.
The president of the Community of Madrid replied: “It is an honor to receive the legitimate president elected, yes, by a large majority at the polls by the people of Argentina.”
Impact in Germany
The conflict between the Governments of Spain and Argentina has also had its impact in Germany, where the spokesman for the Executive, Steffen Hebestreit, described Milei’s comments about Sánchez and his wife as “lack of taste” and pointed out that “the Spanish president he found the right words and I believe that the words of the Argentine president are valued by themselves.” These statements have led to the modification of the program that Milei was going to develop in Berlin next Sunday, and which included a bilateral meeting with the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholtz, and a joint press conference.
Given the Argentine president’s intention that this joint press conference not take place, the program, according to the deputy spokesperson of the German Government, Christiane Hoffmann, will be limited to “a short working visit, a meeting with the respective delegations.” However, other government sources assure that there will be a bilateral meeting between the two leaders, although without a press conference. There will also be no military honors on the occasion of the visit, during which Milei will receive on Saturday in Hamburg the medal of the Hayek Society, a liberal-right society that rewards him as a “reformer.”
