The first time I interviewed Josep Borrell and asked him about the future of Europe, he replied that the Old Continent was in danger of becoming an open-air museum for the rest of the world. The scene of the Prado Museum as the setting for the family photo of the NATO summit in Madrid has shown that Borrell fell short. Europe can not only become an open-air museum. It can also be indoors.
I congratulate the ideologist of the photo. A kick. With a click he has achieved an international spot not only for the Prado Museum, but also for Madrid and Spain. A different image of an international summit. Few scenarios are better equipped than the Prado to get likes in the era of selfies and followers, which is what counts. If instead of in the Prado the photo had been taken in a CIE, in a soup kitchen or in a supermarket with skyrocketing prices, it would also have had an impact, in another way. But don’t listen to me, that’s populism and not what they do.
The choice of Las Meninas as the background gave a sense of calm to the entire frame. Presidents and companions distributed equally, left and right. Balance and peace, in a war summit, where it was decided to increase military spending and point out Russia and China as the bad guys in the movie. Without moving from the Prado, they could have posed before The Surrender of Breda or, better, before Saturn devouring his children. The moment seems more Goyesque than Velazquian. We are so scared that they talk to us about increasing military spending and we look the other way, even though as a young man you attended the Mili KK demonstrations with great motivation.
And they thought of everything. Because don’t tell me that it’s not an extraordinary idea that, in addition to the leaders of each country, their companions also posed. For a moment you can think that in the world’s political elites there is parity between men and women. And no. In reality, there were only four presidents at the summit.
All experts agree that the summit has been a huge organizational success. And it is that we are top hosts, the best setting up events. In France they don’t even know how to organize a Champions League match. And here it doesn’t matter if they give us the Olympics or a NATO summit, we’ll do it.
And how should Pedro Sánchez be? Plethoric. He has been seen loose and comfortable hosting world leaders, rubbing shoulders with the crème de la crème. Biden, Macron, Scholz, Trudeau, Johnson or Erdogan. What a downer to have to go to Congress next Wednesday to the control session. How to go from being the headliner of Sonorama to performing on a Sunday afternoon at your town’s festival.
But with which Pedro Sánchez will these leaders have found? Because they don’t know him as much as we do. Those of us who have followed his trajectory have seen the Sánchez with the Spanish flag in the background and the Sánchez who agrees with Esquerra Republicana. To the Sánchez who was the chosen one of Susana Díaz and to the Sánchez who took her down. The Sánchez who took away his sleep thinking about Podemos ministers and the Sánchez who had Pablo Iglesias as vice president. I had gotten used to all those Pedros. Because in politics everything is possible.
But I don’t know how the Pedro Sánchez of the Aquarius and the Pedro Sánchez of the “well resolved” of Melilla are going to reconcile, with dozens of migrants murdered at the gates of our country. We no longer talk about politics. It’s about humanity. And, yes, I have heard the nuances that he himself has given to his words. But I no longer know if I am facing the empathic leader or another cynical politician.
