It seems that the Argentine president, Javier Milei, awakens love and hate in Spain. On the one hand, he is expected to arrive this Friday in the Iberian country to receive the International Medal of the Community of Madrid, chaired by the conservative Isabel Díaz Ayuso, as well as an award from the liberal entity Instituto Juan de Mariana. But, on the other, Milei is the central protagonist of a diplomatic conflict with the Spanish government of socialist Pedro Sánchez.
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The tension began to brew in May during the first visit that the Argentine president made to Spanish soil in the who called Sánchez’s wife “corrupt” at an event by the radical right-wing party Vox, a fact that led to the withdrawal of the Spanish ambassador in Buenos Aires.
After the announcement of his second visit, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommended Milei “behave in line with his position and the Argentine people,” reminding him that he did not do so on his first visit.
Milei has shown a repeated attitude of seeking confrontation and offense to our institutions and our democracy.
Diplomatic sources insisted that the Government of Spain will maintain the treatment that a president of Argentina deserves, although they recalled that “Milei has shown a repeated attitude of seeking confrontation and offense to our institutions and our democracy, something unprecedented in international relations.” and in diplomatic uses between nations”.
However, Milei’s response came even before arriving in Europe. The Argentine president called Pedro Sánchez a “coward” in the middle of a television interview, saying that in terms of freedom of expression “he is applying the same model as (Nicolás) Maduro,” president of Venezuela.
The origin of the exchange of statements is in some comments by the Spanish Minister of Transport at the beginning of May, who suggested that Milei took drugs when giving his speeches, to which the Argentine president responded by assuring that Sánchez’s Government was suffering from “poverty and death.” to its population.
What bothers the Spanish government the most?
Now, the situation becomes increasingly uncomfortable because, on the one hand, as happened on his first visit, The Argentine president will not hold any official meeting with the Government, as is usual in visits by foreign leaders.
However, as was learned on Wednesday, the president will meet with Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who will present him with the international medal of this region.
The Madrid Government has justified the award by “the historical, cultural, linguistic and economic ties” of Argentina with the region. However, the Spanish government took a dim view of Ayuso’s failure to report this meeting.
“He displays profound disloyalty,” said government sources, who considered it “surprising and anomalous” that Milei has not requested to meet with President Sánchez in any of the visits he has made to Spain as president.
According to sources, the Spanish Foreign Action and Service Law obliges regional presidents to inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when they meet with foreign leaders.
Why do they point out that the award that Javier Milei will receive in Spain is illegal?
The left-wing group Más Madrid warned that it is irregular to award Milei the International Medal of the Community of Madrid because the requirements included in the law that regulates this type of tribute are not met.
The controversy points to article 10 of that regulation, sanctioned this year, which establishes that the decoration “will be granted as a gesture of courtesy and as recognition and respect of the citizens of the Community of Madrid to the representatives of other countries and highest dignitaries of international organizations and the European Union, on an official visit to the Region for their institutional work.”
King Felipe VI refused to see Javier Milei
Certainly, what bothers Spain the most is the fact that Javier Milei was not completely honest with the reasons for his trip.
In principle, Milei framed his trip to Spain as a personal visit in which he was only going to receive an award from the Juan de Mariana Institute.a libertarian think tank, which will honor him this Friday night at a dinner in which personalities such as the Spanish economist Jesús Huerta de Soto, one of the Argentine’s ideological references, and the Peruvian writer and Nobel Prize winner in Literature will also be awarded. Mario Vargas Llosa.
But, Ayuso – Sánchez’s staunch rival and star figure of the Popular Party (PP) – decided to take advantage of the opportunity to honor Milei at the regional government headquarters. “It is an honor to receive the legitimate president” of Argentina, Ayuso said in the Madrid regional Parliament when defending his decision.
As his opponents insist that he did not take into account the informal status of Milei’s trip, The Argentine government attempted to raise the status of the visit by requesting an audience with King Felipe VI, which was not granted.
The Royal Family responded that it does not assume diplomatic functions without coordinating with the presidency of the government.
“Javier Milei’s trip to Madrid does not appear as an official visit, but has been publicized as a private visit with the objective of personally receiving a decoration from a space of extremist ideological propaganda contrary to social justice. Therefore, the material requirement for granting the recognition provided for in the Madrid Law is not met,” said regional deputy Manuela Bergerot, born in Argentina in 1976 and who settled as a child in Spain with her exiled parents. , and who was the one who formally filed the complaint for the alleged illegality of the medal that Milei will receive.
STEPHANY ECHAVARRÍA
International Editor
TIME
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