Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will become president of an international socialist group on Sunday, a potential stepping stone to a major post on the world stage.
A year away from a general election in Spain that polls say will be difficult to win, Sanchez is the sole candidate to lead the Socialist International (SI) – an umbrella organization of 132 centre-left parties from around the world.
The telegenic 50-year-old will take over from former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou at the helm of the SI, which is gathering in Madrid this weekend.
“Although symbolic, this post could be a way (for Sanchez) to win back voters’ reputation by presenting himself as influential on the world stage,” said Pablo Simon, a political science professor at Carlos III University
“But it could also be that he plans to capitalize on this network of international contacts” that the post offers to “later play a prominent role” in a top global body, he added.
Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres headed the International Socialist before heading the United Nations Refugee Agency in 2005 and becoming UN Secretary-General in 2017.
“All prime ministers who love foreign policy tend to look for an international post to secure a post-government career,” said Antonio Barroso, an analyst at Teneo Intelligence.
– ‘More weight’ –
Sanchez has made international affairs a priority since taking office in June 2018, unlike his conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy, and is seeking to increase Spain’s influence in the European Union.
Within days of taking office, Sanchez made international headlines by agreeing to take on migrants from the rescue ship Aquarius who were being turned away by other European nations.
The first modern Spanish Prime Minister to be fluent in English, Sanchez served as Chief of Staff to the United Nations High Representative in Bosnia during the Kosovo conflict.
He has maintained good relations with France and Germany, which has made Spain “one of the engines of European politics,” Simon said, citing Madrid’s leadership in talks over the energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine as an example.
Sanchez successfully lobbied for his foreign minister Josep Borrell to be appointed foreign policy chief of the European Union in 2019.
“Spain has much more weight in the European Union debate than it did 10 years ago,” Barroso said, adding that the prime minister had boosted “Spain’s credibility” with its “European partners”.
Beyond the EU, Sanchez hosted a crucial NATO summit in Madrid in June, just four months after Russia invaded Ukraine, and has “reconnected” with Latin America, which has shifted to the left in recent years, he said Simon.
Sanchez visited four Latin American countries in August 2018, his first official trip outside of Europe, in an attempt to highlight the region as a foreign policy priority.
– With Biden and Macron –
During the recent G20 summit in Indonesia, Sanchez posted a photo of himself meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden.
The photo was seen as an attempt to brush up on his credentials in international affairs and was widely mocked on social media.
But Ignacio Molina, a senior analyst at think tank Elcano Royal Institute, said he believes Sanchez’s priority is to remain Spain’s prime minister after general elections expected at the end of 2023.
Speculation about a possible top position for Sanchez in a global body has come from Spain’s opposition parties, who have “broadcast the idea that he is using international meetings to prepare his future in the event of an election defeat next year,” Molina said.
“I don’t think he’s consciously building an international network for personal reasons. It’s because he feels comfortable in European politics, where he encounters less resistance.”
