ARGENTINIAN President Javier Milei’s visit to Germany was greeted with both celebration and outrage.
Milei received an award from a local organization in northern Germany on Sunday linked to the far right and witnessed by several right-wing German politicians.
At the same time, left-wing groups in Germany protested his arrival to the country as the populist president prepared to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
A ceremony for military honors and a press conference have been canceled, with the program also shortened, at the request of the argentine president’s delegation.
Milei and Scholz talked for about an hour, in which both leaders discussed closer economic cooperation on trade, renewable energies, and climate protection.
Both leaders also called for the speedy finalization of a major trade deal between the European Union and four South American economies also known as the mercado común del sur or mercosur, which in english translates to southern common market.
Last week, thousands of protesters clashed with police in the streets after Argentina’s Upper House passed a controversial bill that will pave the way for implementing Milei’s economic reform plans. The controversial measure which aims to stabilize the south American nation’s troubled economy and reduce inflation includes laying off thousands of civil servants as well as cutting fuel and transport subsidies which led to massive protests.
German officials have described Argentina as one of the country’s most important economic partners in Latin America.
