Read in Catalan

A new conflict open between Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP) and the Socialists (PSOE). And again because of Javier Milei. The origin of all this was a manoeuvre by Madrid Community president Ayuso, who, taking advantage of the fact that the Argentinian leader was coming to Madrid to receive an award, decided to decorate him with its own honour, the International Medal, this Friday. The official reason for this: the "historical, cultural, linguistic and economic ties that unite the region with the Spanish American country", but it is clear to everyone that this is a new conductor of Ayuso's opposition to Pedro Sánchez. During the plenary session of the Madrid Assembly, the PP leader defended that she is not "to blame" for the Argentine president making "institutional visits to different governments" and not visiting "the one who has caused a diplomatic crisis and who constantly insults all governments that are not of his sign”. Ayuso boasts that it will be an "honour" to receive the "legitimately elected president, in his case, yes, by a large majority at the polls by the people of Argentina". "You are silent when your government partners and half the government itself insult the king of all of us", she told the PSOE deputies. The diplomatic conflict between Milei and the Spanish executive is still recent, when the Argentine president, invited to a Vox event a month ago, said that Begoña Gómez, the wife of Pedro Sánchez, was "corrupt" and the Spanish government ended up withdrawing its ambassador from Argentina.

 

Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP): "For us it is an honour to receive the legitimate president, who in his case *was* elected by a large majority, of the Argentinian people" 

Has Isabel Díaz Ayuso scored a goal against her party leader - and internal rival - Alberto Núñez Feijóo? Sources in the PP leadership reveal to ElNacional.cat the arguments for thinking that she has not. They assert that the current PP leader aspires to reach the Spanish government by winning the centre, while the gesture of the Madrid leader in receiving the Argentinian president fits with her more extremist line. "We could have received him as well, but this is not the battle we want to fight", says a source in the PP engine room. The same party voices assert that Madrid does not quite represent the entirety of the Spanish state, and that Milei has ended up choosing to meet with someone similar to him and who at the same time serves to irritate Pedro Sánchez. The only voice from the People's Party headquarters that spoke publicly on this issue was Ester Muñoz, the party's deputy secretary of health and sducation. "It is normal for a president to do what she considers appropriate within the framework of her powers, I don't understand what the news is", she said. And she accused the PSOE of wanting to "widen the diplomatic rift" with the Argentine government.

Sánchez distances himself from leaders "with simplistic diagnoses of reality"

Indirectly, Pedro Sánchez also referred to Javier Milei's new visit. The Spanish PM has never uttered the name of the Argentine president, but he has launched barbs at him, although not with the same intensity as a few weeks ago, when he took advantage of the diplomatic crisis with Argentina to establish the foundations of his campaign for the European elections. This morning he applauded the work of his executive in science fields and took the opportunity to differentiate himself from those leaders "from other continents who are not far from our country" and who "mobilize the masses with simplistic diagnoses of reality and impossible proposals" which "on many occasions are alien and contrary to scientific evidence". Thus, in an act of the National Office of Scientific Advice, the Socialist leader of Spain affirmed that people must make a choice between such "simplistic" models, or the governments that promote scientific evolution.

Other Socialist politicians have also spoken out on this issue. And they have not spared the criticism. The PSOE spokesperson in the Congress of Deputies, Patxi López, accused Ayuso of wanting to "irritate" the Spanish government. "I don't think she has suddenly been overcome by intense love for the people of Argentina", he quipped. Territorial minister Ángel Víctor Torres has described the meeting between the Argentinian president and the Community of Madrid president as "anomalous" and asked Milei to "behave in a different way". In fact, diplomatic sources accuse Ayuso of "deep disloyalty" and Milei of falling into a "repeated search for confrontation". And they point out that the Madrid autonomous government has breached the law, because it did not inform the Spanish foreign ministry of its meeting with a foreign official.

Rufián: "One more step towards the Thuggery International"

The Catalan Republican Left (ERC) spokesperson in Madrid, Gabriel Rufián, also entered the fray. For the pro-independence left-wing MP, tomorrow's appointment in the Assembly of Madrid is "another step towards the Thuggery International" of "the right and the fascists all over the world". “They are school bullies for life, there is nothing politically incorrect in blaming the poor or the oppressed and that is what they do. They are like Robin Hoods, but what they do is steal from the poor to give to the rich," he stressed.