President Javier Milei, in the grip of a diplomatic furore with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, is planning to return to Spain next month.
Milei, 53, is scheduled to do so on June 21, when he is due to receive an award from the Instituto Juan de Mariana.
The visit comes with the two nations’ governments in open conflict. Spain has recalled its ambassador from Buenos Aires after Milei branded Sánchez’s wife, Bergoñia Gómez, “corrupt” during an appearance at a summit hosted by the far-right party Vox.
Milei’s government has ruled out a wider conflict and pointed to previous insults by Spanish government ministers, but the government in Madrid is demanding a formal apology.
Argentina’s President will hope things are calmer by the time he returns to the country next month. The visit will come after Milei first visits Borgo Egnazia, Italy, to take part in the G7 Leaders Summit.
The Group of 7, which consists of the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Italy, will hold sessions between June 13 and 15.
A few days later, in Madrid, he will receive an award for “his defence of the ideas of freedom” from the Instituto Juan de Mariana at a “Freedom Dinner.”
Manuel Llamas, the director of the Instituto Juan de Mariana, said in a release that Milei has “made history by becoming the first libertarian president in history.”
He praised him for “successfully and efficiently disseminating the ideas of freedom in a country ruined by socialism for decades, in addition to enormously contributing to the dissemination of liberalism internationally.”
On Monday, a day after Milei’s controversial speech at Europa Viva 2024 summit in Madrid, a conservative event organised by ultra-right party Vox, diplomatic relations between the two nations were still strained.
Roberto Bosch, Argentina’s ambassador to Spain, visited Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, for a short meeting. Diplomatic sources said talks lasted around half an hour, and that – under the strict instruction of the Foreign ministry – the Argentine envoy “did not apologise” for Milei’s conduct.
In turn, he looked back on “the affronts received by President Milei” previously from officials reporting to Sánchez, and “took note” of conversations at the Foreign Ministry.
Within the Casa Rosada, they speak of a “personal” conflict without any diplomatic repercussions, and accuse Sánchez’s of “overreacting the diplomatic crisis because they are in an election campaign.”
“We don’t play the victim. The left wing does that, they overreact outrage,” they stated.
– TIMES/NA
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