Milei dedicated much of his speech to questioning socialist ideas and the interventionist policies of the State. In that sense, he argued that socialism “ends up plunging societies into misery” and defended principles such as the right to property and the principle of non-aggression as pillars of economic development
.
The president also addressed the debate on trade opening in Argentina and criticized protectionist positions that seek to limit international competition. As he explained, the Argentine economy has a much lower level of openness than would correspond to its level of development
President Javier Milei closed the Madrid Economic Forum this Saturday with a fiery speech in defense of capitalism and strong criticism of socialism, as part of his visit to Spain after participating in different political and economic activities during the week.
During his speech, Milei harshly questioned the government of socialist Pedro Sánchez and warned that, without the support of the European Central Bank, Spain would face an even deeper crisis. The president argued that “if Spain had its own central bank, with the unpresentable one they have in power, they would have a worse disaster than that
of Argentina.” Milei gave the keynote speech at the Madrid Economic Forum.
The head of state was greeted with applause and cries of support from the audience present at the forum, composed mainly of businessmen, economists and leaders of liberal thought. In this context, he opened his speech with his usual slogan chanted by hundreds of attendees: “Long live freedom, damn it! ”.
Throughout his speech, the Argentine president once again vindicated the capitalist system as the only model capable of generating prosperity and well-being. Along these lines, he assured that capitalism is “more efficient, fairer and the only one that brings prosperity to humanity”.
The president also defended the economic reforms promoted by his government since December 2023, and highlighted the fiscal adjustment applied during his administration. According to him, few administrations in the world adopt fiscal discipline measures in electoral contexts, something that his government decided to do to stabilize
.
As an example, he mentioned the case of the tire market, where he said that trade restrictions generated artificially high prices. Milei said that greater openness would significantly reduce costs for consumers and improve economic efficiency
.
In addition, the president stressed that his government is working to reduce economic uncertainty through structural reforms and the elimination of regulations. In this framework, he said that the Ministry of Deregulation has already promoted thousands of changes to facilitate economic activity
. Milei was applauded by the public.
The speech closed with a call to continue the “cultural battle” in defense of the ideas of freedom, in an international context that, he said, is beginning to show a change of direction in the face of the advance of socialism
