Milei travels to Spain to back far-right ahead of elections

President Javier Milei is heading to Spain to take part in several far-right events as the country begins its election campaign following Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s call for an early election on November 29.

On Wednesday he will meet Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid and a prominent right-wing leader who is a staunch political opponent of Sánchez.

This is Milei’s third trip to Spain this year and his seventh since taking office. As on previous occasions, he has no official bilateral agenda and will not meet King Felipe VI or Sánchez, whom he has criticized over their ideological differences.

The trip comes just three days after his return from Washington, D.C., where he also participated in far-right events without holding official meetings. The Argentine leader also travelled to France at the start of the month, where he met his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

In the upcoming general elections Spain will renew its Chamber of Deputies and part of the Senate. Sánchez said the move was an attempt to change the composition of the legislative bodies and secure greater representation for socialist and progressive lawmakers.

His decision to call a snap election came in early October after the far-right opposition, led by Vox and Partido Popular (PP), overturned two presidential decrees aimed at curbing evictions and improving conditions for tenants, as the country grapples with a housing crisis.

The lawmakers elected will vote for Spain’s next leader, a process that could bring Sánchez’s administration to an end or renew his mandate.

Milei’s agenda The Argentine president is traveling to Madrid alongside Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno and presidential spokesman Adrián Ravier. They departed on Monday night and are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday at 1 p.m. Argentine time.

Milei is expected to publicly express support for the far-right during his participation in several events.

The president has no scheduled activities on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he will attend a meeting at Fundación Disenso, a think tank linked to Vox, and meet with Community of Madrid President Isabel Díaz Ayuso, a leading figure in the PP.

Earlier that day, he will attend the Nueva Economía Forum (New Economy Forum), an event for political and business leaders. 

He will later meet with professor Jesús Huerta de Soto, a leading figure in the Austrian school of economics and an anarcho-capitalist whose views Milei shares.

Milei will also deliver a speech as part of a master’s program in Austrian school economics at King Juan Carlos University.

The Argentine leader is scheduled to depart Madrid on Wednesday night and arrive in Buenos Aires on Thursday morning.