Argentina knowledgeable Spain that Milei's journey to Madrid was “a private visit” | EUROtoday

“The President of the Argentine Republic, Mr. Javier Gerardo Milei, will be in Spain between May 17 and 19, on a private visit.” With these actual phrases, the Argentine Embassy in Madrid knowledgeable the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs by letter on April 30 of the journey that Milei was going to make “accompanied by the Secretary General of the Presidency,” his sister Karina Milei.

The letter, to which EL PAÍS has had entry, reported that Milei would journey on the official airplane and anticipated that extra particulars in regards to the exact schedules and the help delegation could be supplied as quickly as attainable. Given the controversy that arose, the Argentine Government attributed it to a mistake by its diplomatic workplace in Madrid. “It was a mistake by the embassy. The trip was official,” responded official sources consulted by this medium.

The doc despatched by the Embassy on the finish of April confirmed by way of diplomatic channels the journey that Milei had introduced a month earlier than by way of social networks: his pal Santiago Abascal, chief of the extremely Vox occasion, invited him to take part within the launch of the marketing campaign for the European elections that weekend in May.

As the introduced date approached, the Government got here beneath public scrutiny for the bills of Milei's journeys overseas, principally characterised by an agenda much less linked to nationwide pursuits than to its personal. Opposition leaders questioned that, whereas inside Argentina he proclaims that “there is no money” and implements a drastic lower in public spending, the president and his entourage use the presidential airplane and spend from state coffers to publicize the determine of the far-right chief.

The Government rejected these criticisms and defended that the bills of the journey to Madrid have been borne by the State as a result of it was an official go to, regardless of the absence of bilateral conferences with Spanish authorities. “The reason for the trip is that he is going to have a meeting with the main Spanish businessmen, of whom most, if not all, have investments or interests in Argentina,” argued the presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, hours earlier than Milei took off from Ezeiza aboard the presidential airplane. When requested a few go to that official Spanish sources thought of non-public, Adorni insisted on its official nature and accused journalists of undervaluing the enterprise assembly: “Beyond the fact that you are obviously not giving it the value it has, when “If we give you the details of the meeting, it will be understood that it is of utmost importance,” he insisted.

Use of the presidential plane

Since taking office as president last December, Milei has made six international trips. So far, the expenses of the initial three are known, amounting to about $168,000. The cost of the latter will be much higher, because in mid-April Milei stopped flying on commercial flights and began using the presidential plane for security reasons.

When consulted by EL PAÍS, the presidential spokesperson assured that he still does not have the details of the expenses of the first trip to Madrid. “When we have it, we will transmit it,” he assured. “In any case, I understand that it is not of much interest to a Spanish journalist either,” he stated. Regarding the stopover that the president will make in Spain in June to obtain the award from the Juan de Mariana Institute, Adorni reiterated that it’ll even be paid for with public funds.

Left Front deputy Gabriel Solano has denounced Milei to court docket “for using public funds and property, including the presidential plane, to travel to Spain in order to participate in Vox party activities. The cost to the State will exceed $500,000.”

In January, Milei went to Switzerland to participate in the Davos Forum. In February she traveled to Israel, Italy and the Vatican, where she did maintain a state agenda. At the end of the same month, Milei made her first visit to the United States: she met with another icon of the global right, former President Donald Trump, and later spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He traveled to the United States again in April to be honored as an “international ambassador of light” by the Jewish group Chabad Lubavitch and, later, to satisfy with the proprietor of Tesla, Elon Musk. At the start of May he returned to the United States for the third time. That time he spoke to businessmen and buyers on the Milken Institute Forum and repeated his assembly with Musk.

Criticism for the waste of public funds hits a sensitive nerve for the Government of La Libertad Avanza. Milei came to power with a campaign against the privileges of the “political caste” and is now accused of engaging in the same behaviors that he previously reviled. “We are not Kirchnerists,” Adorni defended himself. “We do not make any self-criticism in terms of expenses because I can assure you that, if there is an austere government that spends the minimum and essential, it is this one,” he insisted last week.

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