"Obviously, affection is free between governments, but respect is non-negotiable", said Sánchez, at an event in Madrid organized by the newspaper Cinco Días.

Sánchez requested a "public rectification" from Milei for the statements he made on Sunday, which the Government of Madrid, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, considered to be insulting to the leader of the executive and to Spain, announcing the withdrawal of the country's ambassador in Buenos Aires.

"The response of the Government of Spain will be in accordance with the dignity that Spanish democracy represents and with the bonds of brotherhood that unite Spain and Argentina, currently presided over by a President who, unfortunately, did not rise to the occasion with his statements", he added.

On Sunday, in Madrid, at a convention of the far-right party Vox, Milei referred to "cursed and cancerous socialism", before adding: "What a bunch of people clinging to power and what levels of abuse it can generate. Even when you have a corrupt woman, let's say dirty, and you take five days to think about it".

At the end of April, the socialist Pedro Sánchez said that he was considering resigning due to attacks on his family, especially his wife, based on disinformation campaigns. After five days of reflection, he decided to remain in office.

"I am fully aware that the person who spoke yesterday did not do so on behalf of the great Argentine people. But what we saw yesterday in Madrid speaks to the risk that the international far-right represents for societies like ours", said Sánchez today, who called for "outright condemnation" by all democratic political forces of Milei's statements on Sunday, but also of other political leaders, such as the president of Vox, Santiago Abascal.

In Sánchez's opinion, the leader of Vox made an "explicit call for political violence" when he asked on Sunday for the current government of Madrid, democratically elected in elections, to be "kicked out".

The Spanish Popular Party (PP, right-wing) today considered Milei's speech in Madrid to be "shocking" and "an interference in national politics", but argued that the Government and Sánchez are "grossly exaggerating".

"To make Pedro Sánchez's wife the reason for a possible rupture in diplomatic relations with Argentina is to grossly exaggerate", said PP leader Esteban González Pons today, in an interview on COPE radio.

González Pons pointed out that Milei cannot go to Madrid on his first trip after taking office as President of Argentina without greeting the King, the Parliament and the Government of Spain and participating in a partisan event "and meddling in Spanish politics".

"But Pedro Sánchez's wife is not a matter of State", added the PP leader, for whom the Argentines living in Spain, the Spaniards living in Argentina and the companies "do not deserve for their respective situations to be compromised by the sense of honour that Pedro Sánchez has in relation to his wife".

The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, also considered today that both Sánchez and Milei have entered into a "verbal escalation that leads nowhere".

The largest Spanish employers' association, CEOE, condemned Milei's statements, as did companies such as BBVA, Santander, Telefonica and Iberia.

The president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, condemned "out of tune statements", inappropriate for a relationship between "two friendly, brother countries".

"It makes no sense to attack our President of the Government", said Garamendi, who stressed the importance of economic relations between the two countries.

Read Also: Argentina demands an apology from Spain to President Javier Milei (Portuguese version)