Javier Milei has landed this Wednesday in Madrid with Spain a little more than a month before the general elections and has not needed to meet with the main candidates to become one of the protagonists of the pre-campaign. The Argentine president has praised Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Santiago Abascal, and Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has insulted Pedro Sánchez, and has defended the application of his well-known "chainsaw" to Spanish public spending.
His presence has ended up provoking responses from practically all political fronts. While the Government denounced foreign interference and the PSOE took advantage of the visit to contrast the Spanish economic model with the Argentine one, the PP tried to keep its distance from the most controversial statements of the leader. Vox, on the contrary, has celebrated his speech and Abascal has found time between his rallies in A Coruña and Avilés to talk with him via video call.
The day began with an informational breakfast in which Milei coincided with the president of the Senate, Pedro Rollán, from the Popular Party. There he conveyed a message to Spanish voters: "You have Isabel, you have Feijóo, and also in Vox you have Abascal, so have hope." An intervention in which he defended his economic policies and again resorted to his usual rhetoric against the left.
Milei has called Sánchez a "dictator" and "corrupt", while claiming the reduction of public spending as an economic remedy. His intervention took on a particularly controversial tone when he spoke of "kicking the socialists out," words that have triggered new criticisms from the Spanish Executive.
A meeting with Ayuso and a video call with Abascal
Although Milei has expressed his sympathy for the main leaders of the Spanish right, his only in-person meeting with one of its most prominent figures has been with Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The president of the Community of Madrid received him in the afternoon at the headquarters of the Canal de Isabel II, turned into his temporary office while the camp continues at Puerta del Sol.
The meeting, which lasted almost two hours, began with a hug between the two leaders. During the conversation, Ayuso invited the Argentine president to participate in the Ibero-American summit scheduled for early November in Madrid, while Milei proposed visiting Argentina.
The meeting was held without a subsequent appearance before the media, unlike what happened during the morning, when the Argentine leader had indeed attended to journalists.
Neither Feijóo nor Abascal have held an in-person meeting with Milei. Both were outside Madrid due to their pre-campaign commitments. The leader of Vox was participating in events in A Coruña and Avilés, although he has spoken via video call with the Argentine president.
During that exchange, Abascal thanked Milei for his speech and expressed regret at not being able to see him in person. "I would have loved to see you, but it will be on another occasion," he conveyed. The Argentine president, for his part, has again resorted to expressions against the left and stated that "there is nothing more fun than kicking leftist asses and thieves' too."
The harmony between the two contrasts with the greater caution of the Popular Party. Feijóo has avoided identifying with Milei's personal attacks, although his party has supported the institutional visit of the leader. "I respect him because he is the president of a nation like Argentina," the popular leader has pointed out.
More critical has been the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, who has warned of the electoral consequences that the words of the Argentine president may have. "Pedro Sánchez will be the first to be very happy about the propaganda that Javier Milei has given him today," he stated.
Sánchez turns the visit into a debate about cuts
The PSOE had been preparing its response for hours. The socialist headquarters in Ferraz woke up with a large banner addressed to the Argentine president: "Welcome to the country that grows the most in Europe, leftist". The party has thus used one of the terms with which Milei usually disqualifies his political opponents to claim the evolution of the Spanish economy.
The response has also been conveyed to the social media of the President of the Government and, subsequently, to his pre-campaign event in Burgos. There, Sánchez warned that PP and Vox could apply in Spain policies similar to those of the Argentine president if they win the elections on November 29.
The socialist leader has resorted to employment data to establish a comparison between both countries. "In his years in government, 11 million Argentines in the informal economy, without contributing to Social Security and earning in cash", he pointed out, before contrasting that figure with the 22.6 million workers who, he highlighted, currently contribute in Spain.
Sánchez has attributed the evolution of Spanish employment to labor reform and the increase in the minimum interprofessional wage, two of the measures that the PSOE is advocating during the pre-campaign.
The response has also had a musical dimension. At the socialist event, a song by the Argentine artist Lali Espósito played, who released one of her songs in response to the attacks received from Milei. The PSOE has thus turned the statements of the president into another element of its campaign against the economic proposals of the right.
The Government denounces interference and Foreign Affairs responds
The reaction of the Executive has not been limited to Sánchez. Several ministers have criticized the tone of the Argentine president's interventions, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement reminding that Spain is a sovereign nation that does not accept insults against its president or external interference.
The Minister for Digital Transformation, Óscar López, has responded with irony to the accusations of authoritarianism made by Milei. "As a dictatorship, Spain leaves much to be desired, doesn't it? Because we even have the patience to listen to him," he declared.
For his part, the Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, has condemned the attitude of the Argentine president. "He is an unpresentable and rude man, who first comes to insult", he stated.
The confrontation revives a diplomatic conflict that already caused a crisis between both countries in 2024. At that time, the Spanish Government withdrew its ambassador in Buenos Aires after Milei accused Begoña Gómez, the wife of the Prime Minister, of corruption during another visit to Madrid.
Two years later, the Argentine president is once again using his stay in Spain to attack Sánchez, although this time his statements coincide with an electoral campaign in which economic policy occupies a good part of the debate among the main parties.
From the confrontation with a journalist to university protests
The visit has also been accompanied by moments of tension outside the strictly political arena. During his morning appearance, Milei responded with disqualifications to a journalist from Cadena SER who had asked him if his presence in Spain could be uncomfortable for PP and Vox in the midst of the pre-campaign.
"Intellectually short people and miserable politicians. Perhaps it applies to your case," the Argentine president replied.
His words have provoked criticism from the Minister of Equality and the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (FAPE), which has demanded respect for information professionals.
The president has also visited the Rey Juan Carlos University, where a group of students has gathered to protest against his presence. The mobilizations have thus accompanied part of an agenda that, beyond institutional meetings, has been marked by political controversy.