<h6><strong>Luis Ayllón</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the appointment of Joaquín María de Arístegui Laborde as the new Spanish ambassador to Argentina, a post that had been vacant since the end of May, when the Government decided to withdraw the ambassador María Jesús Alonso, in protest against accusations by the Argentine president, Javier Milei, against the president's wife, Begoña Gómez.</strong></h4> In parallel with the appointment of Arístegui, who until now was ambassador to Colombia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a<strong> joint statement by Spain and Argentina,</strong> with which the two countries try to overcome the crisis that began more than five months ago. The statement begins by pointing out that Spain and Argentina are sister nations, united by deep human and social ties, and states: “Our common language and culture and the important economic, commercial and investment exchanges must always act as a guide in the relations between our two countries.” “The relationship between our governments – it adds – must be equal to the intensity of the ties that unite our peoples and societies. Therefore, we are committed to strengthening our relationship so that it reaches<strong> the highest level of trust and mutual respect in political and institutional terms that our peoples deserve.”</strong> It also points out that, as priority partners, both bilaterally and within their respective regional blocs, the European Union and Mercosur, the two countries must “work together to increase our trade exchanges and to achieve a rapid and effective conclusion of the European Union-Mercosur Association Agreement.” They also indicate that as members of the Ibero-American Community of Nations, Argentina and Spain must “continue to strengthen the organization as a space for progress, solidarity and consensus for the benefit of the peoples of Ibero-America, in view of the celebration of the Ibero-American Summit in Spain in 2026.” And concludes: “We are committed to always seeking points of connection in the achievement of our common objective, which is the well-being of our citizens.” For his part, <strong>the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares</strong>, declared that the Government has taken this decision “from the desire to achieve the highest level of trust and mutual respect, political and institutional, between two sister countries that have relations of enormous intensity, first of all, human, linguistic, cultural, economic and commercial”. “Institutional relations must be at the level of the human relations that have been woven by two sister peoples such as the Spanish and the Argentine”, he continued. “Seeking, and with the horizon of achieving the EU-Mercosur agreement and the celebration of the Ibero-American Summit in Spain in 2026, we have decided to work looking towards the future and always having as a guide the common well-being of our sister peoples”, he concluded. Foreign Ministry sources consulted by <em>The Diplomat</em> indicated that, in recent weeks, <strong>Albares contacted his Argentine counterpart, Diana Mondino, several times</strong> to try to redirect the situation. The same sources specified that the conversations were "cordial" and that both foreign ministers agreed on the need to end the crisis. Albares and Mondino met in New York at the end of September, on the occasion of the Ministerial Week of the UN General Assembly, but it was not revealed that they had any bilateral contact. However, yesterday <strong>Mondino revealed</strong>, in statements to LaN+ in Argentina, that she had had <strong>"several conversations with Albares, including personal meetings", but that these had not been disclosed at the express wish of Spain,</strong> which did not want them to be leaked. In any case, the Argentine foreign minister described the decision to appoint a new ambassador as "very good news", recalling that "politically, great importance had been given" to the matter. She added that, in all this time, her relationship with Albares had been fluid, and, after highlighting the work of the two Ministries, she stated: "We have achieved something that could have seemed very difficult (...) but we are now in a situation that I would say is normal." Despite these conciliatory words, <strong>Milei's spokesman, Manuel Adorni</strong>, insisted in a press conference that they had already said that <strong>"it was a mistake to remove the ambassador at the time."</strong> "We always understand that relations between peoples are above any differences that may exist between two leaders on an almost personal level," he said. The spokesman added that "finally it was understood that t<strong>he Argentine position was the correct one and that one thing had nothing to do with the other,</strong> strictly diplomatic issues with differences." The Spanish Government withdrew its ambassador in Buenos Aires on May 21, after Milei refused to apologize for having called Sánchez's wife "corrupt" at a Vox event held in Madrid. The Argentine Executive, on the other hand, kept its ambassador, Ricardo Bosch, in his post in the Spanish capital.
