No step back. No doubt. Quite the opposite. A day after receiving the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, at the Real Casa de Correos, this Saturday, the President of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, is riding the wave of controversies and institutional tensions generated by the event and trying to use it to mobilize the voters of the PP and Vox against the government of Pedro Sánchez. It happens in a park in the capital of Spain, where the PP of Madrid closes ranks around its president, who takes the floor to proclaim its truths: in her opinion, it does not matter that Milei (a “brave”, she describes him) has denounced Sánchez, because the origins of the diplomatic conflict between Spain and Argentina, he argues, lie in a few words from Minister Óscar Puente, who suggested that Milei could have consumed 'substances'. “I have not seen the president of Argentina insult Spain or the king,” Ayuso said. It is understood that the leader of the PP does not care that she does it with Sánchez. Perhaps that is why the Vice President, María José Montero, does not address her, but rather the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez-Feijóo, when she demands this Saturday that he “modulate, rectify or secede” from the ceremony of Friday.

Saturday's day starts with the hangover from Milei's reception at the Real Casa de Correos, where the Argentinian arrived after referring to Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, as “corrupt”and after defining the Spanish president as a “arrogant socialist' or a 'coward'. Before Ayuso praises Milei (“you have to be brave to lead a country sunk by Kirchnerism,” he says), and before defending the award of the medal (“they threaten us because we maintain institutional relations as brotherly peoples : they have a medal because we have that power,” he says), only a minority without any weight in the PP in Madrid comes to the meeting with a negative image of what happened.

“The regulations do not comply with the Community of Madrid's own regulations, because Milei does not agree with them.” official trip“, says a source who knows the ins and outs of the organization. “As always, Ayuso has put the rest of the national PP and the other barons in the position of having to defend that act,” he continues. “That is easier for those who rule with Vox. For the rest…”

For the rest, who seek moderation, it is not so simple. That is the wound into which the first vice president of the government, María Jesús Montero, is pouring salt this Saturday, when she demands that the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, “modulate, rectify or separate himself” from the attacks on the government. Government at the presentation of the Madrid International Medal to Milei. In statements to the press after the swearing-in of Imanol Pradales as Lehendakari, Montero regretted that with this act the Community of Madrid had, in his opinion, pursued a “policy of confrontation and persecution” of the Government of Spain. “And that wasn't the most striking thing, but the speechesof that act, he thinks. For example, the vice president of the government criticizes the “very destructive” argument of the Argentine president against equal opportunities, the collective and the welfare state, considering that taxes are a “theft and attack on private property” and defending the “law of the jungle.” Therefore, Montero asks for “respect and institutional loyalty to Ayuso, who is responsible for us witnessing this speech that violates the basis of our Constitution.”

The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.Marshal (EFE)

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However, the bridges between the two governments have long been broken, as Ayuso shows by accusing Sánchez of “buying the elections in Catalonia” with the money of the Spaniards, thus stalling negotiations to invest Salvador Illa as president with the government's negotiations with ERC on the financing of Catalonia.

For this reason, the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, confirms that the reception at Milei “confirms” that Ayuso and José María Aznar, “and not Feijóo”, mark the political discourse in the PP. For this reason, the president's hard core in the PP considers the ceremony a day later as 'a success'. And that is why the Madrid government, given the reaction of the left, or the criticism of media normally more aligned with Ayuso, makes sure that they would not reconsider the reception of Milei once the consequences were known: “Not at all : it was an institutional act. to the height of a head of state.”

The interventions during the demonstration, held on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the victory in the May 2023 regional and municipal elections, reflect that belief. It is enough to listen to the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, who speaks out against the criticism from the left.

“President, they are angry with us because in Spain we have the highest responsibility for Pedro Sánchez: we are the main political and democratic battering ram for him to stop as president, a fundamental battering ram,” the councilor said. clearly. “There is no political model more opposed to that of Pedro Sánchez than that of Madrid and Isabel Díaz Ayuso's PP,” he continues. “We represent everything that Sánchez hates.”

As usual, Díaz Ayuso does not soften the combative tone. On the contrary, he multiplies it and devotes large parts of his speech to defending Milei's reception. There is even a moment of plot mimesis (“Socialism takes us down, to zero,” says Ayuso). But above all, there is an attempt to defend the autonomy of the Madrid government by comparing it to that of Catalonia, as if Ayuso did not realize that it seems to be demanding for itself the same thing that the independents have been demanding for years.

“And then we regional presidents cannot invite international leaders,” he says after launching a barrage of criticism of Sánchez. “How much money went to embassies, to that dream? And the government says nothing about that?”, he asks, referring to the Catalan independents. “That's foreign policy,” he added, responding to criticism that his hosting of Milei did not meet legal requirements under the state's Foreign Action Act. “If there are Catalan embassies, if it is possible with the money of the working class, why can't we maintain bonds of brotherhood with countries with which we have been united for centuries?” And he concludes: “There is more and more independence for false republics that never existed.” [por Cataluña]and less freedom for supportive autonomous communities like Madrid. Is that the game? Is that what you have to endure?”

The hundreds of people who had gathered to hear Díaz Ayuso erupted in shouts and applause. The Baroness governs with an absolute majority, and none of the controversies that surround her seem to affect her influence (from the alleged tax fraud committed by her partner, on the irregularities found in the home they sharevia reception to Milei).

Equality before the law

“They are the ones who decide who deserves a medal,” Ayuso said of the links and the award given to Milei, which is under discussion because the rule requires the winner to make an official visit to Madrid. “For them [la izquierda], everything, but for those of us who have not provoked international conflicts with sister countries, we have to sit back and continue with the misery,” he laments. “Well, no,” he says. “That is not the case in the Community of Madrid. “No means no,” he concludes, rediscovering the irony of fate, the slogan that has produced the most fortune in Sánchez's mouth. “I inform the gentlemen of the PSOE, who have become so nervous this week, that the PP has always had Argentina in its speeches (…) We do not need to enter into a game of political disputes that provokes ministers [por Puente] “They only know how to offend and offend, and don't know how to do their job,” he continues. And he says, “Why must we continue on the path of confrontation that Sanchismo is leading us on?”

There is only one moment where Ayuso manages to make the audience turn up the volume of the applause and shouts that follow her speech. It is not the moment when he launches his new slogan (“Sanchismo is Chavismo”). Not even if he sues the state attorney general, Álvaro García Ortiz. Not even if he criticizes it The Constitutional Court has partially annulled the conviction of socialist Magdalena Álvarez in the ERE case. That moment comes when Ayuso remembers that all Spaniards are equal before the law: “You, your family and also your government.”

The memory of the case that affects Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez called to testify for allegedly committing the crimes of private sector corruption and influence peddling; And proceedings were opened against his brother for an alleged crime against the government, infuriates the audience. The memory of Milei is the same: Ayuso defends the appointment with the President of Argentina, now transformed into a photo that will always accompany her.

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