The Argentine president, Javier Milei, returns to Spain on Friday for a visit that is generating new controversy as it does not include meetings with the Government or the King, but foresees a decoration from the Madrid regional executive.
Milei was in Madrid last month for the first time since taking office as President of Argentina, to participate in a convention of the far-right party Vox, without having requested audiences with the Spanish authorities.
This visit to Madrid ended in controversy, due to statements during the Vox convention that the Spanish Government, led by the socialist Pedro Sánchez, considered insulting and inadmissible as they were made during a visit to Spain.
The controversy turned into a diplomatic crisis with the withdrawal of the Spanish ambassador from Buenos Aires.
Milei called Pedro Sánchez’s wife corrupt in Madrid and in the following weeks criticized ministers and called the leader of the Spanish Government himself a coward.
The Argentine President and his government have highlighted that Milei has also been insulted by members of the Spanish Government, who accuse him of denialism and authoritarianism or suggested that he uses drugs.
During the previous visit to Spain, and already with some controversy due to Milei not requesting audiences with the authorities of the Spanish State, the Argentine President’s office explained that it was a trip just to participate in the Vox convention and a second trip was already planned , this week, to receive a prize from an association, which would have a different type of agenda.
In addition to the ceremony to receive the award from the Juan de Mariana Institute, Milei’s agenda in Madrid known this week only includes an official meeting, with the president of the Autonomous Community of Madrid (regional government), Isabel Díaz Ayuso, from the Popular Party ( PP, right).
The Spanish Government said it was unaware of Milei’s agenda, but that he was authorized to land on a military base and the usual security arrangements for a head of state were made available while he remained in Spanish territory, as already happened in the previous visit.
As for King Felipe VI, the newspaper El Pais published today that the President of Argentina requested an audience with the head of state, but according to the Royal House’s agenda, this meeting will not take place.
The newspaper confirmed the request for a hearing with “sources knowledgeable about this request” and sources from the Royal House reminded El Pais that Felipe VI coordinates with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “visits to Spain” by international heads of State and Government, also highlighting that, according to the Constitution, “foreign policy is the exclusive competence of the Government”.
Milei’s statements in May in Madrid were criticized by large companies, business confederations and several parties, including the PP, which went so far as to describe the Argentine President’s speech at the Vox convention as “shocking” and “an interference in national politics ”, although he argued that the Government and Sánchez were “greatly exaggerating” in their response and entering into a “verbal escalation that leads nowhere”.
Faced with Milei’s new visit and the new controversy, the PP’s national leadership has not yet commented.
The president of the Madrid regional government said today that it was “an honor” to receive and decorate Milei, “elected by a large majority at the polls by the people”.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who the Socialist Party (PSOE) accuses of just being provocative, also stated that she was not to blame for Milei not wanting to meet with a Government and a Prime Minister who “caused a diplomatic crisis and constantly insults” .
Milei will receive the International Medal of the Community of Madrid in recognition of Argentina’s “historical, cultural, linguistic and economic ties” with the region, according to a statement from Ayuso’s executive.
For the Spanish Government, Ayuso demonstrates “profound disloyalty towards Spanish institutions”.
Executive sources reiterated today 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 at the same time holding private meetings and with autonomous authorities”.
The executive added that Milei “has shown a repeated attitude of seeking confrontation and offence” towards Spanish institutions and hopes that, unlike what happened on the previous visit, this time he will “be on par with the Argentine people and respect Spanish institutions”.
Milei will be in Madrid on Friday before heading on Saturday for a visit to Germany, where he has planned a “short working visit” with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, before traveling to the Czech Republic, where he will be received by the head of Government, Petr Fiala.
2024-06-20 15:12:02