Spain Recalls Its Ambassador To Argentina Over 'insult'

Madrid, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th May, 2024) Spain said Sunday it was recalling its ambassador from Buenos Aires after Argentine President Javier Milei, speaking at a far-right gathering in Madrid, called Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's wife "corrupt".

The European Union also stepped into the row, its foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemning Mile's remarks.

The anti-establishment Argentine was the star speaker at a meeting of global far-right leaders organised by Spain's Vox party, which also featured Italy's Giorgia Meloni and France's Marine Le Pen.

During his speech, Milei referred to Sanchez's wife, Begona Gomez, as a "corrupt woman".

He did not identify Sanchez or his wife by name. But he did allude to a cooling-off period that Spain's Socialist premier took last month to decide whether to resign after a court opened a preliminary probe into his wife for suspected influence peddling and corruption.

Sanchez has dismissed the allegations against her as part of a campaign of political harassment by the right.

"The global elites don't realise how destructive it can be to implement the ideas of socialism... even if you have a corrupt wife, let's say, it gets dirty, and you take five days to think about it," Milei said.

Just hours later Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced Madrid would recall for consultations its ambassador to Argentina, and demanded a public apology from Milei.

"It is unacceptable that a sitting president visiting Spain should insult Spain and the Spanish prime minister, a fact that breaks with all diplomatic customs," Albares said in a televised address.

The recall of an ambassador for consultations is one of the strongest measures in diplomacy and the final step before the severing of diplomatic relations.