After a period of anxiety in which internal tensions shook the party, Vox, after consolidating its results in Catalonia, where it maintains its eleven deputies in the Parliament and has increased in votes, returned this Saturday to the Vistalegre pavilion to exhibit its strength in the face of the European elections, in which the formation of Santiago Abascal, led by the European Reformists and Conservatives (ECR) group, aspires to enter the future European Commission.
Santiago Abascal has taken a mass bath and allowed himself to be photographed during his tour of the 52 provincial booths of the Europa Viva 24 festival, a type of tourist fair installed in the upper part of the building, while in the albero of the old Plaza de bulls, round tables were held on topics as common in the discourse of the extreme right as “Freedom in the face of cancel culture” or “Media and political power.”
“It is the fourth Vistalegre,” the leader of Vox congratulated himself on the power of convening the event, which serves to warm up the engines for tomorrow’s big rally, in which the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, will be the real protagonist, and It comes after a conference in which Vox opted for a much smaller space far from the center of Madrid.
Abascal has expressed satisfaction with the great atmosphere of what Vox considers a party and which had been called in previous editions España Viva or Viva, simply, which is how they usually refer to it in the game. This year, however, it has been renamed Viva Europa in view of the electoral call on the continent on June 9 and due to the great role that the ECR group has in the organization.
Vox’s candidate for the European Parliament, Jorge Buxadé, made statements to the media at the beginning of the event and, already involved in the campaign, has charged equally “against social democracy and the popular parties”, which govern, he recalled, in coalition in the European Commission, in the face of the ”illusion and hope” that, in his opinion, the Vox option represents.
“The patriotic, reformist and identity movement constitutes the political force with the greatest vitality,” indicated the head of the Vox delegation in Brussels, who welcomed the support that the European extreme right, as well as the Spanish one, is receiving from young people. voters, to whom this ideological space is addressed especially through social networks, in which radical influencers have great prestige.
The main course, in any case, will come tomorrow, when Milei takes the floor in Vistalegre. The president of Argentina met on Saturday morning with a group of Spanish businessmen, led by the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi. The meeting was attended by the president of Iberia, Marco Sansavini; the CEOs of Banco Santander, Hector Grisi; Abertis, José Aljaro and Econener, Luis de Valdivia; the first vice president of Mapfre José Manuel Inchausti; the head of BBVA for South America, Jorge Sáenz de Azcunaga; the executive president of Telefónica Hispam, Alfonso Gómez and the general director of Naturgy Networks, Pedro Larrea. Representatives from Dia, AB Living, Pypsa, Rothschild and Co and Unir also attended, as well as Alonso Aznar, son of former Prime Minister José María Aznar, as a representative of the investment firm Consello Group.
According to a statement from the Argentine embassy, ??the president explained to the directors the current economic situation of the country and the “efforts” that his Government is making to face “crucial challenges such as the fiscal deficit, inflation and poverty.” He also highlighted the proactive actions that are being carried out to attract more foreign investments, highlighting the “commitment” of his administration to improve the business climate and ensure the legal security necessary to operate in Argentina.
The participating businessmen expressed their “interest in exploring new investment opportunities” in the South American country and the “guarantees offered in terms of economic stability and regulatory transparency,” according to the same statement.
According to the embassy, ??this meeting constitutes a “very relevant step in strengthening bilateral relations between Argentina and Spain”, laying the foundations for “future collaborations and joint projects that will promote economic development and prosperity in both countries.”
Yesterday, Friday, as a preamble to what his speech tomorrow in Madrid may offer, Milei presented his book at an event in the auditorium of the newspaper La Razón in which he defended Abascal, sitting in the front row, as the only one who He hugged him at the beginning of his career towards the Casa Rosada – “when I was a despicable being,” he exclaimed – while the popular ones kept their distance. And she said this under the watchful eye of the former Madrid president Esperanza Aguirre, of the PP.
“He is a good president and he is proving it, he is improving all the data on the Argentine economy,” Buxadé defended Milei, who has traveled to Spain without an official agenda and will not even meet with the head of state, King Felipe VI. nor with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, something that the Vox MEP has justified by the “insults” that the Argentine president has suffered from members of the Spanish Government, in reference to Minister Óscar Puente.
In addition to Milei, other relevant figures of the extreme right will participate in tomorrow’s event, including the Portuguese André Ventura and the French Marine Le Pen, who aspires to be the next tenant of the Elysée, while the Hungarian Víktor Orbán and the Italian Giorgia Meloni, who have already achieved power, will intervene through a video recorded message.