(Bloomberg) — Spain’s socialist government demanded an apology from Argentina’s president Javier Mileisaying the libertarian leader’s comments at a far-right rally in Madrid had seriously damaged relations.
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Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told reporters on Sunday that Spain is recalling its ambassador from Buenos Aires after Milei accused the prime minister’s wife of corruption and labeled socialism as “cursed and carcinogenic.”
The Argentine leader was given the respect and deference that a foreign head of state deserves in the Spanish capital, including public resources needed to guarantee his security, Albares said. “He responded to this hospitality and good faith with a frontal attack on our democracy, on our institutions and on Spain.”
Calling non-interference in a country’s internal affairs an “unbreakable” principle of international relations, Albares said: “It is unacceptable that a sitting president, during a visit to Spain, insults Spain and the head of the Spanish government.”
Milei arrived in Spain on Friday after weeks of trading with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. The Spanish leader took a brief break from public view last month after a judge opened a case for influencing his wife Begona Gomez.
Instead of visiting Sánchez or King Felipe, the Argentine president met on Saturday with Sanchez’s fiercest critic in parliament, Santiago Abascal, and on Sunday attended a meeting organized by Abascal’s anti-immigrant party Vox.
“With his behavior, Milei has taken the relationship between Spain and Argentina to the most serious state in recent history,” Albares said.
Spain’s foreign minister said almost all parties in the Spanish parliament supported his position against Milei – except the conservative People’s Party and Vox.
Albares added that he had spoken to the European Union’s foreign policy chief Joseph Borrellwho assured him that an insult to the government of a Member State would be seen as an insult to Europe as a whole.
“Attacks against family members of political leaders have no place in our culture,” Borrell later said on social media platform X. “We condemn and reject them, especially when they come from partners.”
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