This Friday, the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, will meet with his counterpart Joe Biden in Washington DC. This is Sánchez's first visit to the White House since the beginning of his presidency, and on the agenda there are issues from olive tariffs to Defense agreements. The coveted photo of Sánchez shaking hands with Biden, undoubtedly organized in great detail from Moncloa, is also a rally 6,000 kilometers away, not thinking about the campaign for the municipal elections on May 28, but already about the national ones next autumn.

Pedro Sánchez plays the international profile card strongly precisely when in the coming months he will hold the rotating presidency of the European Union, a strategy that draws him as a statesman that places Spain in certain scenarios, but that also has its risks.

Sánchez arrives at the White House with his homework done. At the beginning of the week, the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, met with the US ambassador in Madrid to refine the latest details of the Defense agreements signed with the US, and this Thursday Sánchez's visit was preceded by a meeting and conference press of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, with the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. The delivery of the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel the Catholic to Nancy Pelosi, former president of the US House of Representatives, approved just a few days ago by the Council of Ministers and which “warmed up the atmosphere” for the visit.

During the meeting, agreements will be discussed such as the cleanup of land contaminated with plutonium in Palomares, purchases of Defense material (perhaps the possible F-35B), the immigration issue (the US will build asylum management centers in Colombia and Guatemala and part of the applicants may be sent to Spain) or the tariffs on the export of olives.

A full-fledged meeting that compensates for the ill-sold scene of 2021, the very brief meeting between the corridors of both presidents. Since then, many things have changed in the internationalist profile of Sánchez, who is carefully cultivating that international image..

“It is a decided bet on the part of the president that can bring benefits for the electorate,” says Roberto Rodríguez, an expert in political communication and professor at the Comillas Pontifical University. “When a politician projects himself as an internationally respected leader, he is projecting two of the usual pillars of leadership: confidence and strength.. It allows you to have a projection, to give an image of a respected statesman in the world”, adds.

It is usual in Spain that, while the first presidency focuses on national politics, the second or the final phase focuses on the international one, where technically there are fewer disagreements. It already happened with Felipe González —who visited the White House up to four times— and with Jose María Aznar. Sánchez plays the card of the international leader and statesman against a popular candidate, Núñez Feijóo, with a profile with less projection in this area.

The agenda for the coming months comes from pearls. On July 1 and until December 31, Spain will hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, for which the Sánchez government is already organizing budget items and preparing dossiers to deal with. However, the actual effect of the presidency on influence in the European Union is more limited.. It will be important for the role of host, in the image and likeness of the success of the NATO summit in Madrid, both at the EU-Latin America summit in July and at the European Political Community summit in Grenada in October..

But it also has its risks.. In his role as president of the Socialist International (a position he has held since November 2022), Sánchez almost sparked a diplomatic scuffle with Israel over a message of encouragement to protesters against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reform. Greater exposure also means more chances of slipping up if limits are not measured.

In addition to the fact that, behind closed doors and facing the polls, the real impact that this international commitment may have on the Spanish voter is limited.. “Right now, Spain is very polarized politically, with very clear blocks for and against its image. In this environment, it is very difficult for projection alone to change the vote,” Rodríguez points out.. In addition to the fact that “if you bet on international politics, it can cause you to lose closeness, very important for the voter, who thinks that you are more interested in what happens abroad”.