The UN visited Seville, but Trump did not

A compendium of good wishes and intentions, as is almost always the case when the UN organises its mass summits, but as it contains no binding measures, it is more than likely that it will not bring any benefit to the needy, who are the main object and pretext for the organisation of the UN's pomp and circumstance in Seville.  

The Andalusian capital brought together more than 13,000 delegates from 187 countries, including several dozen heads of state and government, and several hundred bankers, bankers, businessmen, as well as agencies and organisations whose raison d'être is precisely to promote and channel international funds to balance the enormous inequalities that exist among the 8 billion human beings who populate our planet.  

The event, conceived by President Pedro Sánchez as a launch pad to relaunch his tarnished international image, not only failed to achieve this objective but, on the contrary, it was a showcase for the whole world to see the decomposition of his government, the septic tank that is flooding the Socialist Party with filth and, most seriously, the decline of a country in which public services have ceased to function. This is what the president of the Larra Group, Agustín Valladolid, describes as ‘a corrosive alloy of corruption and the blatant deterioration of public services’.  

Many delegates travelling to Seville were victims of the chaos of a railway network in which Spain (supposedly still the fourth largest economy in the European Union) ranks last in the continent in terms of investment in conservation and maintenance. To complete the picture, the chaotic images from Barajas airport, with thousands of passengers missing their flights, finished off the image of a country whose main source of income is tourism and which wants to rub shoulders with the big boys, but which has still not explained why its mainland was plunged into darkness on 28 April.  

If, in addition, add to that the fact that, while you are presenting the major objectives of the UN Conference, your most trusted person, whom you entrusted with the task of negotiating with fugitive criminals and convicted ex-terrorists, making the whole country pay a very high price in exchange for power and impunity, is sent to prison, it was a foregone conclusion that the UN forum in Seville would not go down in the annals of history as one of the great milestones. Sánchez was so aware of this that he ordered the dismantling of all the scaffolding planned for the traditional family photo of the attending leaders, taking advantage of the gala dinner.  

Having also set himself up as the world's champion against the US president, Sánchez obviously could not count on the decisive presence of the United States, until yesterday the main financier of all major international development programmes. The cancellation of USAID, the world's largest international cooperation agency, has already increased the resource gap for financing development to $4.3 trillion, with more than 50 countries on the verge of declaring financial collapse. UNHCR, UNICEF and the WHO have had to cancel a large part of their programmes, and it does not appear that the remaining contributing partners, starting with the Europeans, will fill the gap left by the US absence.  

But Trump was not the only one to desert the Seville summit. His policy of development cuts has also been emulated by Germany, the United Kingdom and France. It is true that President Emmanuel Macron did deign to drop by the Seville forum, although in the case of the French head of state, this should be seen as yet another of his desperate attempts to stay in the international media spotlight, given that the French people continue to confirm in all polls and surveys that their support for him is dwindling. 

The coincidence of the end of the Seville summit with the approval in Washington of Donald Trump's budget programme is also confirmation of the vast distance that increasingly separates Europe from the United States, and the latter from developing countries, at least in terms of the policy pursued with them to date. The signing of this decisive law by the president on the day commemorating US independence is clearly a declaration of intent. It may not disappear, but the envied American dream will henceforth be something else.

Seville will certainly be a turning point, but not in the way described by Spanish Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo, who said it would usher in a new financial architecture for development. Europe, which in theory is called upon to lead this new landscape, will first have to figure out how to find the funds to meet its commitment to NATO to invest 5% of its GDP in defence and security. With a huge foreign debt, Europe will find it very difficult to combine its famous welfare state with its proclamations in favour of less developed countries, even though it is increasingly aware that financing development is not charity, but an investment in security, stability and a shared future. For the rest, appealing once again to the commitment to allocate 0.7% of GDP to development and – what an innovation! – ‘introducing a new tax on the rich’ to achieve this, does not exactly sound like music to the ears. 

Making citizens understand that their own well-being depends largely on ensuring that the poorest in this globalised world also enjoy it would not be difficult; they are not idiots. The problem arises from treating them not as true citizens but as mere voters, that is, as depositors of a vote every four or five years, only to do whatever I want once I am in power. If you get them used to subsidies, handouts and the idea that laziness, lack of effort and unproductivity have no consequences, it will be a Herculean task, whoever is in charge, to change their mindset and convince them that their handouts are not a gift from the government, especially when, in addition, this current expenditure, such as pensions, is paid for by a debt that is growing at an enormous rate (Spain is already at 1.667 trillion euros). 

On the positive side: Despite the traffic jams and inconvenience, Seville achieved more than a passing grade in terms of organising large events. So much so that the president of the Andalusian Regional Government offered to host events of this magnitude on a permanent basis to the UN Secretary-General. Of course, the modern equipment of the police deployed to safeguard security would have to be matched by the food rations they were given, which were more typical of a third world country due to their scarcity and poor quality. But that seems to be up to the Ministry of the Interior, i.e. the government.