Pedro Sánchez is trying to politically exploit to the fullest his role as a reference of progressivism both in Europe and America, which has been reinforced after his direct tensions with Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu first over the war in Gaza, then over his rejection to increase defense spending to 5%, and finally over his radical opposition to the war in Iran.
This attempt to lead a progressive space that is in decline but still holds power in very relevant countries besides Spain, such as the United Kingdom, Denmark, Brazil, Mexico, or Colombia, has led Sánchez to organize a major meeting in Barcelona this Saturday the 18th, in which a dozen leaders and as many number twos have already confirmed their presence due to the impossibility of their chiefs attending.
Sánchez and the Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who have great rapport, will be the two main protagonists of the meeting, which will be preceded by a bilateral summit between Spain and Brazil on Friday in which about ten ministers from each country will participate, something common among European allies or neighbors like Morocco, but unprecedented with a Latin American partner. The political alliance between Sánchez and Lula is therefore total.
Moreover, the meeting between governments takes place simultaneously with another political meeting organized by the PSOE with round tables over two days with leaders and experts to deepen the analysis of the situation and progressive responses to face the wave of right-wing that is sweeping almost the entire Western world.
In the first meeting, in the morning, within the framework of the Democracy Always Forum, which originated in Chile at the initiative of Gabriel Boric and is now held in Spain, the presence of a dozen leaders has already been confirmed, and among them are very prominent names such as the Mexican Claudia Sheinbaum, who hardly leaves her country—her predecessor López Obrador also rarely traveled abroad—but has decided to attend as a sign that the relationship between Spain and Mexico, which had very difficult moments due to López Obrador’s demand that King Felipe VI apologize for the excesses of the conquest in the 16th century, has been restored. Sánchez has made many diplomatic efforts to achieve this to the point where the king admitted those excesses, although unofficially and without apologizing, the balance point found among diplomats.
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According to La Moncloa, the objective of this leaders’ meeting at the Democracy Always Forum is “to defend the principles and values of democracy, multilateralism, respect for the international order based on rules,” which is a message clearly antithetical to that of Donald Trump, who has opted for a war without even consulting the United Nations or his partners and has broken all the rules of the multilateral system that emerged after World War II.
In the plenary session, according to the Spanish Government, the leaders will address three issues: defense of institutions and multilateralism; disinformation and digital technologies; and extremism and inequality. This agenda thus shows the approach of an alternative world to that of the right and far-right that dominates much of the West, especially the USA.
Among those confirmed so far are the leaders of Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa, Uruguay, Albania, Lithuania, Barbados, Cape Verde, the president of Ireland, Catherine Connolly; the President of the European Council, António Costa; as well as deputy chancellors or vice presidents from the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Botswana, or Ghana. Additionally, Australia, Slovakia, Guatemala, Namibia, Norway, and the Dominican Republic are sending representatives but of a lower level.