Spain will not have diplomatic representation in Argentina. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, announced this Tuesday that the Government has decided to permanently withdraw the ambassador in Buenos Aires, María Jesús Alonso, due to the attitude of the Argentine president, Javier Milei, who not only has not asked apologies for his insults to Pedro Sánchez and his wife, but he has aggravated them in the last few hours.
“The withdrawal of the ambassador means that the embassy will continue at the level of chargé d’affaires,” Albares said at the press conference after the Council of Ministers. The chancellor has also insisted that Milei ask for “public apologies after what was an assault” regarding the reception given to the President of the Argentine Government this weekend in Madrid, where he attended a Vox event. “Argentina will have to continue without a Spanish ambassador in Buenos Aires,” he insisted.
On Sunday, the Government called its ambassador in Buenos Aires for consultations and, subsequently, summoned the Argentine ambassador in Madrid, Roberto Bosch, after Milei, at that event in Madrid, called Begoña Gómez “corrupt” and accused Sánchez to protect her. Moncloa has repeatedly asked the Argentine president to apologize, but the South American Executive has repeated in various areas that it was Spain that should apologize for the alleged attacks against Milei.
“There is no such thing as a head of state who goes to the capital of another country to insult its institutions and interfere in its internal affairs,” said Albares, who insisted that precisely this “non-interference” is a principle of “coexistence” between nations. He has also recalled that the Government made both the Torrejón air base and the necessary security for his trip available to Milei, during which he did not meet with the king or any representative of the Executive. “It is a unique case in the history of international relations,” he stressed.
“We have no interest in any escalation but it is the Government’s duty to defend dignity and sovereignty,” added Albares, who insisted that Spain has not caused this situation. Furthermore, the minister has claimed not to understand that “those insults” from Milei, when they were uttered in Madrid, “received applause and laughter from other Spaniards”, in reference to the Vox followers who attended the Argentine president’s event. “There are times to be the opposition and others to be Spain. On Sunday, before Javier Milei, it was time to be Spain,” he said, alluding to the extreme right.
Far from apologizing, Milei said this Monday that he felt “attacked” by Sánchez, who he said “works aligned with Kirchnerism.” The Argentine president has also accused that part of the Argentine opposition of having generated this crisis between both Executives. “I am not going to apologize from any point of view… If I was the one attacked,” said the president in an interview with the Todo Noticias (TN) channel, hours after returning from his trip to Spain, in which He gave a speech at an event organized by Vox, in which he called Sánchez a “sleaze” and called his wife, Begoña Gómez, “corrupt.”
Condemnation of the European Commission
On the other hand, the European Commission has condemned the “personal attacks” and “attacks on family members” of politicians, after being asked about the open diplomatic crisis between Spain and Argentina. “They are not acceptable,” said the foreign spokesman, Peter Stano, about the insults uttered by the Latin American president to Pedro Sánchez and his wife during a global far-right event in Madrid sponsored by Vox.
“We hope that the two countries, Spain and Argentina, find a solution to resolve this bilateral dispute,” said Stano, who has thus framed the diplomatic conflict as a matter strictly between Spain and Argentina, leaving the EU aside.
The high representative, Josep Borrell, has avoided commenting on the matter in a press conference after meeting with the Prime Minister of Moldova, Dorin Recean, on the occasion of the meeting of the EU partnership with that country under the premise that the issue It had to be about that matter. However, the head of European diplomacy expressed his concern on X (formerly Twitter) with a rejection of “attacks” on the families of politicians, especially when they come from “partners.”
“Political freedom, prosperity and social cohesion based on fiscal redistribution are pillars of the EU,” he added regarding Milei’s criticism of purely European policies such as the welfare state based on the payment of taxes.
Source: www.eldiario.es
