Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will lead meetings of the global left in Barcelona this Friday and Saturday, in a bid to defend multilateralism and mobilize left-wing movements against the far-right.
The meetings, organized by Spain and left-wing political networks, come at a time when US President Donald Trump’s cuts to humanitarian aid, military interventions and threats to abandon the Western military alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have shaken the status quo of international relations and provoked a rethinking of global loyalties.
Born of a wake-up call to European socialists following the rise of the far-right in the 2024 EU elections, the aim of the so-called ‘Global Progressive Mobilization’, which begins on Friday, is to mobilize defenders of left-wing ideas, culminating in a declaration of common actions on goals ranging from the defense of democracy to the green transition, organizers said.
A second meeting on Saturday – titled ‘In defense of democracy’ – is organized by the Spanish government and is the fourth part of a summit launched by Lula and Sánchez in 2024.
‘Show that there is an alternative’
Both leaders are vocal critics of the Trump administration – with Sánchez having been particularly outspoken about the Iran war – and both face growing challenges from the far right in the upcoming elections.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has also clashed with Trump, will be present, as will Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, marking the first visit by a Mexican president to Spain since 2018, after years of tension over the legacy of Spanish colonial rule.
Continues after advertising
“I think it’s important that progressive parties and governments come together to convey to the public, especially in Spain, that we belong to something that goes beyond domestic politics,” Sánchez said of the meetings, speaking in Beijing during a visit to China, where he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have pledged closer ties.
Europe’s far right has lost one of its biggest pillars with the defeat of Hungarian nationalist leader Viktor Orbán in Sunday’s elections. Sánchez praised the fact, saying that ‘the wave can be stopped, and Hungary proves it’.
In the other event, 3,000 people, including current and former heads of state, around 400 mayors, activists and representatives of trade unions and political parties, will meet for two days, with the Socialist Party of Spain as host. Sánchez and Lula will close the event.
‘Radical forces are at work in our countries to sponsor far-right movements… we have to show that there is an alternative,’ said Giacomo Filibeck, general secretary of the Party of European Socialists, whose membership spans 33 parties across Europe.
