Pedro Sánchez and Zohran Mamdani join forces in New York: "The powerful fear us"

MadridPedro Sánchez and Zohran Mamdani. Two names from the left, with international projection, who have joined forces this Wednesday in New York to stage an alliance in favor of progressive policies on a global scale. "The powerful are afraid of us," the Spanish prime minister made clear, who was invited by the mayor of New York to an informative breakfast taking advantage of his stay in the American city during the United Nations General Assembly. "Spain is demonstrating that another economic model is possible, and New York, that this ambition can transform our cities," reported Sánchez, in a speech covered by Efe.

Under the title Building an economy for the majority, Sánchez defended that his policies contribute to reducing inequality, despite criticism from the opposition regarding the loss of purchasing power of Spaniards in recent years. The Spanish prime minister remarked that Spain is one of the fastest-growing economies in the European Union, with the lowest unemployment level in recent decades and with measures such as the establishment of a minimum vital income. He also cited the suspension of evictions, even though the decree law is no longer in force – it was overturned by PP, Vox, and Junts – and this Wednesday an 87-year-old woman was evicted from the house where she had lived all her life.

For his part, Mamdani has had nothing but praise for Sánchez. He referred to him as a "defender of the working class" and cited as examples the increase in the minimum wage from 735 euros to 1,221 during his term, as well as the expansion of paternity and maternity leave.

Immigration

Although with the Ceuta crisis the opposition is questioning his immigration policies, the Spanish president has returned to defend his government's position. He gave a speech praising the migratory phenomenon. "Immigration makes us a better country," he declared. And on this point, he made a global criticism of the right, on both sides of the Atlantic, for pointing to immigrants as the culprits of all evils: "It is one of the oldest political tricks in history: making people look to the sides so they don't look up." In this way, Sánchez has exhibited his most rebellious version regarding the great powers, a strategy that the Moncloa wants to exploit in the final stretch of the legislature. In a press conference before his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, which will take place early this morning (Spanish time), he reaffirmed his management of Ceuta. In fact, he said that he has found "empathy" from the rest of the countries: "Saying that a ten-year-old child is an invader, as some parties say, sounds strange." Thus, he defended that it is compatible to respect legality and return migrants who do not have the right to asylum after carrying out individualized files while treating them with "dignity". However, he also admitted that the border of Ceuta and Melilla needs to be reinforced and that the control mechanisms did not work on July 30. For this reason, 170 million euros will be invested there. Furthermore, although yesterday he said that Morocco "failed", today he highlighted the effort made by the Alawite country to reinforce the barrier in the face of massive calls to cross again, coinciding with the Moroccan legislative elections.

The Spain-United States bond

After the meeting with Mamdani, in which the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, and the President of the European Council, António Costa, also participated, Sánchez spoke at an economic colloquium organized jointly by the Spanish and United States chambers of commerce. The event, by the mere fact of being organized with the Americans, was already of interest due to the turbulent relations between Sánchez and Trump. Without going any further, the Spanish president snubbed him this Tuesday at the initial reception held by Donald Trump following the start of the UN General Assembly in New York. "You don't need to be in a photo to work together," Sánchez said.

During the economic event, the leader of the PSOE said that the bond between Spain and the United States is "more solid than the steel that holds up the Brooklyn Bridge," even if there are currently differences between the respective governments. In fact, Sánchez, in an interview on the show of Jon Stewart, one of the most influential in the United States, criticized Trump's speech at the UN for being an "ideological" speech without being "based on facts" or having the support of many countries. Before the general assembly, the Spanish president wants to present an alternative agenda to the American one: multilateralism, feminism –he wants the next UN Secretary-General to be a woman– and a social-democratic economic model against deregulation. Before delivering this speech, Sánchez, in an interview with Bloomberg, also defended cooperation with China to reduce the trade deficit.