The Government of Spain has called its ambassador in Buenos Aires, María Jesús Alonso, for consultations, following the attack by the Argentine president, Javier Milei, against President Pedro Sánchez and his wife. Milei’s words, spoken this Sunday during an event in Madrid held jointly with Vox, have thus unleashed an unprecedented diplomatic crisis with the Government of Argentina. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has asked Milei for “public apologies” and has assured that if they do not occur, Spain will take the “appropriate measures” to defend its “sovereignty and dignity.”
“Mutual respect and non-interference is an unbreakable principle of democracy,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation during an institutional appearance from the Moncloa. Albares added that “it is unacceptable that a sitting president, on a visit to Spain, insults Spain and the President of the Government of Spain” and has reiterated that this fact “breaks with all diplomatic customs and the most basic rules of coexistence.” between countries.”
“The very serious words spoken today by Milei in Madrid surpass any type of political and ideological differences,” continued the Foreign Minister, “they are unprecedented in the history of international relations and even less in the history of relations between two countries. and two towns united by strong ties of brotherhood.”
This Sunday, the Argentine president called the Spanish president’s wife “corrupt”, although without mentioning her or the president by name, at the massive event held in the Spanish capital. “Global elites do not realize how destructive it is to implement the ideas of socialism. They do not know what kind of people are screwed to power or what abuses it can generate. Like when he has a corrupt woman, she gets dirty and takes five days to think about it,” Milei said.
“We will take all the measures we believe are appropriate to defend our sovereignty and our dignity,” said Albares. The head of Foreign Affairs explained that the Spanish Government has received Milei “in good faith” in Madrid, where she has participated “in a far-right political event.” Albares has said that “the public resources of the Spanish state” have been made available to him and Milei “has responded with a frontal attack on our democracy, our institutions and Spain.”
The Government has also asked the Argentine president for “public apologies” and for him to “live up to the great country he represents and the position he occupies.” According to Albares, Milei “should never have abandoned” that respect for our country, “much more so being in the capital of Spain.”
Spain awaits the statement of the European Union
Albares has highlighted that he has contacted all the parliamentary spokespersons “to gather support” and that he has received them “in a broad way.” According to the Foreign Minister, the two parties that have not yet spoken are the PP and Vox. The Government has obtained the support of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, who has responded that “an attack on a member state is also an attack on the EU.”
Albares reported this afternoon that the Spanish Government hopes that the EU “will make a public statement about what happened.” Shortly after, Borrell published in The High Representative has reiterated that “political freedom, prosperity and social cohesion based on fiscal redistribution and respect in the public space are the pillars of the EU.”
The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun (Sumar), has declared that “the insult by the far-right Milei is against the government and against Spain.” The member of the coalition government added that it is “incomprehensible” that the businessmen – who, led by the president of the CEOE, held a meeting this Saturday with the Argentine president – “are more focused on taking photos with them than on raising salaries and advance social rights.” Along the same lines, parliamentary spokesperson Íñigo Errejón added that “it is not a discussion between politicians, but between models of society.”
The deputy and general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has confirmed that the Foreign Minister has requested the support of his party to call the ambassador in Buenos Aires for consultations. “I have told him that the right is being stopped with rights and concrete advances and that no one will understand that they do this without first calling the ambassador in Israel for consultations,” Belarra responded in X.
The Government asks Feijóo to condemn Milei’s words
Milei’s words have been received with harsh criticism by several members of the Government, who also assure that Alberto Núñez Feijóo “cannot look the other way.” in the words of Santos Cerdán, organizational secretary of the PSOE. The spokesperson for the Executive, Pilar Alegría, has described Milei’s intervention as “the politics of mud at full speed. Intolerable. Unacceptable”. Milei is in Spain this weekend, where he has held several public events and met with a group of businessmen at his country’s embassy in Madrid, at the invitation of Vox, the PP’s main partner in several regional governments.
The PP, however, has responded that its job “is to oppose the president of Spain, not the president of Argentina” and that it does not want to participate “in the discursive hyperbole that some and others try to include. Miguel Tellado, spokesperson for the PP, has also accused the Government of wanting “Milei to mobilize the electorate that is no longer convinced by the Government.”
The first vice president of the Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, has described Milei’s words as “unacceptable” and has assured in X that “in the face of hatred and insults from the populist right, the Government will remain firm in its convictions and will not tolerate these insults.” In another message, Montero has referred directly to “the members of the PP”, in reference to Vox, of whom he has said that “they forget that Spain is a democracy” and that the Government “has the legitimacy of the ballot box.” .
Teresa Ribera, Minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, has also said that what happened is “simply intolerable” and that “in the face of insults and lies, a respectful, but firm and democratic response is appropriate.” The PSOE candidate for the European elections on June 9 also had words for the opposition: “Waiting for a reaction from the PP equivalent to that of Zapatero with Chávez.”
The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, also declared this Sunday that “the Ultra International in Madrid shows that the extreme right is the same all over the world: hoaxes, hatred and cuts. “A danger to democracy.” Bolaños has added, via a message in X, that “its terminals in Spain are Vox and the most extremist PP. That is why they went to Milei’s inauguration and will not condemn his insults.”
Like Bolaños, the spokesperson for the Socialist Group in the Congress of Deputies, Patxi López, has also responded to Milei’s words and has appealed to the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. “Today Madrid has been the epicenter of global shame,” López wrote in X. “The extreme right has come to our country to insult us and vomit tons of hatred. There is no point in regretting later; We must isolate them, denounce them and stop them now. Right, Mr. Feijoo?”
The organizational secretary of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, has criticized that the global far-right “comes to Spain invited by the members of the PP to spew their lies and destructive hatred.” Cerdán has reiterated that “Feijóo cannot look away: this is what threatens our democratic foundations. With his complicit silence and his pacts he encourages this hate-free bar.”
Milei’s previous attacks on Sánchez: “His socialist policies only bring poverty and death”
Milei’s words have caused the second crisis between the two countries in this month of May, after the criticism raised by the words of the Spanish Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, who accused the Argentine president of “ingesting substances” during an event at the PSOE. “I didn’t gauge the impact of those words, if I had known I wouldn’t have said it,” Puente later said. The minister then alleged that, in his opinion, the situation had been “greatly overreacted” because the “relaxed context” in which he had uttered those words was not taken into account.
Then, Milei also responded with attacks on his Spanish counterpart. “Their socialist policies only bring poverty and death,” Milei said after Puente’s words. That same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in which it “flatly” rejected Milei’s accusations. The president raised the accusations against Sánchez by ensuring that he had “jeopardized the unity of the Kingdom, agreeing with separatists and leading to the dissolution of Spain,” as well as Spanish women, “allowing the illegal immigration of those who threaten their integrity.” physical”.
That crisis did serve, however, for the PP leader to ask for Puente’s resignation or for him to be fired for provoking a crisis with a “brother country.” “They boast of international relevance, and they have just created a political crisis with a brother country like the Republic of Argentina,” Feijóo said then during a rally prior to the Catalan elections in Barcelona. “They ask not to be insulted, and they insult everyone,” he denounced. The Government, through the statements of its ministers this Sunday, has asked the opposition leader to take the same position regarding Milei’s insults.
Source: www.eldiario.es
