Barcelona is preparing to become this Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18, the great showcase of a international progressive front who wants to demand an alternative to the advancement of far rightto the deterioration of multilateralism and the political agenda of Donald Trump. The Catalan capital will host, almost at the same time, three different quotes although connected to each other by the same political climate: the first bilateral summit between Spain and Brazilthe IV Meeting in Defense of Democracy and the Global Progressive Mobilisation, this third organized by the Socialist Party of Spain and its international counterparts.
The coincidence is not coincidental. The Government of Pedro Sanchez wants to take advantage of Barcelona to project an image of unity of progressive forces at a time of high geopolitical tension and strong ideological polarization.
The first of these meetings will be Fridayin it Pedralbes palacewith the bilateral summit between Spain and Brazil. It will be the first of its kind that both countries celebrate with each other and also the first of Spain with a Latin American country. Sanchez and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva They will be accompanied by a dozen ministers from each Government, at a meeting in which they are expected to sign agreements of a nature economicof social agendaof innovation and the scope technological and digital.
At Moncloa they emphasize that this meeting takes place in a context of “great progressive political harmony” between both leaders. That is the meaning of this first stop: a date institutional and bilateralfocused on the relationship between the two countries and the desire to strengthen it with concrete commitments.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, with the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Lula da Silva, at the Moncloa Palace, on April 26, 2023 / Jesus Hellin 2022 / Europa Press
In Defense of Democracy
The second big date will arrive on Saturday with the IV Meeting in Defense of Democracypromoted by Spain and Brazil from 2024. It is a forum of intergovernmentalwith the presence of heads of State and Government, vice presidents, vice chancellors, ministers, ambassadors and representatives of international organizations. Its objective, according to the Executive, is to reinforce a common response to the extremismthe polarization and the disinformationphenomena that “erode social cohesion and threaten democratic institutions and multilateralism.”
The meeting is scheduled to be structured around three major axes: the defense of the institutions and of multilateralism; the fight against disinformation and the impact of digital technologies; and the fight against extremism and the inequality. The meeting aims to continue the work developed in the three previous summits, held during the UN General Assemblies of 2024 and 2025 and in Santiago, Chile in July 2025.
Sheinbaum, Lula and Petro
In the list of confirmed leaders for this IV Meeting in Defense of Democracy along with Sánchez and Lula, the Colombian Gustavo Petrothe Uruguayan Yamandú Orsithe South African Cyril Ramaphosathe president of the European Council, Antonio Costa; the president of Ireland, Catherine Connollyand the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Inga Ruginienéamong others.
One of the most notable presences will be that of the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaumwho will participate for the first time in this initiative and will also star in its first visit to Spain after years of diplomatic friction between both countries due to the historical controversy over the conquest of America. UN representatives and delegations from Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean will also attend.
Social democratic mobilization
The third quote is Global Progressive Mobilisationwhich will also be held in Barcelona during those two days and will have a clearly different profile. This is not a strictly governmental summit, but rather a great platform for coordination between parties – the Socialist Party in Spain and its equivalents around the world – foundations, unions, think tanks, ONG and progressive institutional leaders. The plan is to bring together more than 3,000 attendees already more than 100 political parties from all over the world.
This forum was born with the ambition of becoming a stable structure of collaboration between the different families of the international center left. The Socialist Internationalthe Progressive Alliance and the European Socialist Party They have put aside their differences to push for a common platform that aims to facilitate alliances, share strategies and build a “necessary alternative” to conservative and far-right forces.
The Global Progressive Mobilisation It will include more than 70 panels, meetings and plenary sessions, with the participation of leaders, party leaders and progressive mayors from dozens of cities. Among the planned attendees are also the vice president of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera; the former vice president of the European Commission and former high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, Joseph Borrell; the deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom, David Lammy; in addition to the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni; the mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close; the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri; and the mayor of Athens, Harris Doukas. The organizers want Barcelona to come out with a Barcelona Declaration that proclaims “common action” in defense of democracyhe rule of lawthe equalitythe energy transition and the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
In front of Trump
Although the three appointments are different, they share the same background: the will to articulate a coordinated response to the advance of authoritarianismsto the rise of ultra forces and the erosion of the international system that emerged after the Second World War. In this story, the reference to Trump is constant, both for his review of the multilateral order and for the global boost he has given to a new radicalized right.
Barcelona will thus pick up the baton of the meeting held in Santiago de Chile in July 2025, where Sánchez, Lula, Boric, Petro and Orsi already defended an alliance to protect democracy and combat inequality and misinformation. This time, however, the jump is greater. Not only because of the size of the meeting, but because the Catalan capital will also bring together a bilateral summita multilateral meeting of governments and one international political mobilization. The objective is the same: to articulate a progressive counternarrative against the extreme right of the Trump era.
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