The president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has made it clear that he does not plan to hold a meeting with the Argentine president, Javier Milei, during his new visit to Spain on the occasion of the Ibero-American Summit. At the same time, he has accused the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, of "using foreign policy to maintain the electoral coalition".
"Mr. Milei can come to a summit that is being presided over by the head of State, therefore, I understand that the leaders who come are leaders who respect the head of State of our country and who respect our country," Feijóo said this Tuesday at an Europa Press informative breakfast.
The PP leader spoke thus in view of the imminent arrival of Milei in Madrid for the XXX Ibero-American Summit that begins this Wednesday, also recalling that on his previous visit to Spain the Argentine president made serious disparaging remarks against Pedro Sánchez, whom he even came to call "dictator", among other insults.
On that occasion, Sánchez responded by resorting to a song by an Argentine artist opposed to Milei that caricatures him as "fanatic". "Taking advantage of the fact that I am going in the car, on the way to Burgos, to listen to this Argentine banger. I love it!", the President of the Government wrote in a message on 'X'.
In view of this clash, Feijóo has censured Sánchez for using foreign action to "maintain the electoral coalition" and "improve his partisan position". In his view, "this is the problem of Spain's foreign policy, that foreign policy has not been carried out and the interests of the country have not been defended," he lamented, warning that "it cannot continue happening".
In this context, he added: "If Mr. Milei comes to a rally that a party invites him to and criticizes me and I am the President of the Government, it would never occur to me to break diplomatic relations with Argentina. But how can I bring my partisan or personal issues to foreign relations?".
Feijóo points to the absence of Delcy Rodríguez
Asked whether Milei's presence in Spain can harm the Popular Party and benefit the left, Feijóo has assured that he does not make "electoral calculations about presidents legitimately elected in the brother countries". He also underlined the special bond he feels with that country: he likes Argentina "very much", where he has traveled "many times" and which he considers "a brother country".
At the same time, he has stated that what the Government "is trying" is for the president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, "not to come" to Spain. "I understand it, although what they are saying is that it is she who does not want to come, do not believe it," the opposition leader has warned.
The Venezuelan leader, who is subject to sanctions from the European Union, will finally not participate in the Summit. The Executive itself has admitted that those sanctions could have been lifted to allow her to travel to Spain, but they maintain that the internal situation and the delicate political scenario in Venezuela after the departure of Nicolás Maduro at the beginning of the year, when he was captured by American soldiers, have also influenced.