The 52nd edition of the Cernobbio Forum brought together over 200 business executives, academics, diplomats, ministers, and prime ministers from six states; the President of the European Council Antonio Costa; European Commissioner Jessika Roswal; former minister Arancha González Laya; European Union rapporteur Enrico Letta; Valerio di Molli, CEO of Ambrosetti; and other attendees from China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Europe, and the United States for three days. Nacho Corredor, Vicechairman of beBartlet, was one of a dozen Spaniards who participated in a new edition marked by global uncertainty: "We are a superpower despite the victimhood that we Europeans have woven over our own public debate," he points out.

OpenAI's Head of Strategic Futures and one of the confirmed speakers at the Foro La Toja 2026 speaks with Marc Berruezo, director of beBartlet Intelligence, about the future of work, power, geopolitics and the risks posed by increasingly capable artificial intelligence. Among the scenarios he considers, Ball suggests that "perhaps it becomes a luxury to interact with another human being".

J.P. Carroll, an 'Agenda Pública' columnist, looks back from Washington, D.C., on Harald V's life, shaped from childhood by his ties to the United States, and reflects on his approach to leadership during some of Norway's most difficult moments. "Hopefully this new generation of royals will continue to lead as he did: with heart, humility, and trust in their people."

Egor Kuroptev, a Russian analyst and director of the EK Strategic Communications Center, examines the current state of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from Moscow’s perspective. Following John Ratcliffe’s visit to the Kremlin, he argues that "the Kremlin's domestic logic connects directly with the risk of military escalation in Europe" and adds that the Russian government "increasingly needs the war not to end".

The United States marks 250 years of an idea that has never fully matched its own reality. From the Founding Fathers to the struggle for civil rights, J. P. Carroll, analyst in Washington, D.C., explores the contradictions of that promise and asks what the anniversary means for Spain. His answer shifts the focus away from governments and diplomats towards a relationship also built by citizens, students, businesses, writers, and artists.

From the International Crisis Group to Eurasia Group, Washington, D.C.-based analyst J. P. Carroll brings together the assessments of five experts to unpack what happened during the mass crossing into Ceuta and what role Morocco may have played. While their interpretations differ over whether Rabat deliberately facilitated the crisis or was simply overwhelmed, they agree on the central role migration plays in the bilateral relationship and on the part misinformation played in fueling the conspiracy theories that emerged in its aftermath.

The European Commission is proposing to give industry an additional ten years to complete its decarbonisation. Linda Kalcher and Andrés Pelayo, from Strategic Perspectives, a European think tank specialising in energy policy, warn that this relief may ease immediate pressures, but could also weaken the incentives that turned the European carbon market into a global benchmark. Jobs, investment and technological leadership —an area in which China already holds a considerable advantage— are at stake.

While the debate in Spain remains mired in speculation over Pedro Sánchez’s political survival, the conversation abroad is centered on a very different question: How did Spain become one of the most influential voices in a fragmented Europe? In this installment of 'Brújula Europea', Marc López Plana examines this phenomenon in the wake of his conversation with British journalist Alastair Campbell, former communications director for Tony Blair.

Marc López Plana, Editor and Director of Agenda Pública, travelled to London to speak with Alastair Campbell, former Director of Communications for Tony Blair and political commentator, about the arrival of the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, the challenges facing an increasingly unstable United Kingdom, and the public’s growing appetite for serious political content. The co-host of The Rest Is Politics podcast says the aim of the programme is simply "to help people understand that politics is complicated, but also fascinating."

At a time when Iberdrola and Repsol have announced semi-annual profits of €4.336 billion and €2.201 billion, respectively, the debate over "windfall profits" is back. In his weekly column, Marc López Plana, editor and director of 'Agenda Pública,' asks whether it is legitimate for governments to tax extraordinary profits when the circumstances that produced them also meant significant costs for citizens.

Bruno Maçães, senior adviser at Flint Global and writer, and Pol Morillas, director of the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB), speak with Agenda Pública journalist Jorge de Diego Hurtado about the transformation of the international landscape. Both take it for granted that change is under way and that the system of Western hegemony will not return, but argue that the shape of this new system, its principles and its advantages are still taking form.

While Donald Trump tried to make the World Cup into a showcase for his nationalism, Spain seized the trophy with a team that tells a very different story: diversity, mobility, proper institutions, and collective play. Football doesn’t solve a country’s problems, but sometimes it reveals which model of society works best. According to Francesc Trillas, economist and author of 'Bread and Football,' the world football champion offers a global lesson that transcends sport.

After the publication of the European Commission’s ‘Report on the Rule of Law’, Adrián Vázquez Lázara – European People’s Party MEP and former chair of the Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs – considers that Spain has failed "the exam" and stresses that Brussels has used "very strong terms" in assessing matters of corruption and reforms to the CGPJ. As regards two judgments from the EU Court of Justice related to amnesty, he explains in this conversation with 'Agenda Pública' that "the national courts still have the power to apply national law."

Marine Le Pen has turned her criminal conviction into a presidential gambit. Oxford political scientist Giovanni Capoccia explains how her appeal to the Court of Cassation suspends enforcement of the judgment and allows her to campaign, while placing the judiciary under unprecedented political pressure. "Never before has a leading presidential candidate made judicial accountability a central issue of a presidential campaign," he writes.

Spain’s upcoming 2027 elections are being read as a duel between the PSOE and PP, but the real story isn’t so simple. To what degree are politics in Spain still following rules imposed by the 2008 financial crisis? In this edition of 'Brújula Europea', Marc López Plana, editor and director of 'Agenda Pública', explores how fragmentation, coalitions, and the rise of new forces are not exclusive to Spain but reflect a broader transformation currently running through all of Europe’s democracies.

Following approval by the European Parliament, the EU-Mexico agreement now enters a phase of eliminating tariffs, protecting geographical designations, and furthering Europe’s search for allies in response to Trump’s protectionism. MEP Hana Jalloul, a negotiator for the Socialists in the European Parliament, interprets this pact as a 'strategic imperative' for economic security.

China was probably the greatest de-inflationary force in the world economy during the early decades of the 21st century. Today, the debate in Europe is about reindustrialization, diversification of suppliers, and reduction of geopolitical risks. All of that may be necessary, but it won’t be free.

Since 2022, Marie-Pierre de Bailliencourt has led the Institut Montaigne, the French think tank "where businesses, experts and public decision-makers work together to identify both problems and practical solutions." With the next French presidential election less than a year away, and at a time when France is redefining its role on the international stage, Agenda Pública's Director and Editor, Marc López Plana, travelled to Paris to speak with De Bailliencourt about these challenges.

China’s new decree on overseas investment locks in State control over the country’s strategic know-how and calls into question the reindustrialization model promoted by Pedro Sánchez, based on attracting investment accompanied by technology transfer. In this analysis, María Herrero Martínez, an international affairs analyst, examines how the new regulation could alter expectations surrounding Chinese investment in Spain and its fit with Europe’s industrial strategy.

What would happen if the PSOE, Junts, and the PNV allowed the Partido Popular to govern? In his weekly column, Marc López Plana, editor and director of 'Agenda Pública', considers the moral panic that this simple hypothesis would provoke. Spain’s real problem is not the fragmentation of Congress but the inability of its elites to construct majorities without talk of treason. Find out why the country urgently needs to learn to 'speak Italian' to survive its own institutional complexity.

"The mere fact of opening an investigation already has significant political effects", says Italian jurist Sabino Cassese. In conversation with the editor and director of Agenda Pública, the former judge of the Italian Constitutional Court insists that "judicial independence remains a fundamental value", but warns that this principle requires drawing a clear distinction between two spheres: "One is the political arena. The other is the judicial arena. And what is dangerous is precisely confusing the two".

In this week’s 'Brújula Europea,' Marc López Plana examines how a regulation that once promoted fibre optics in Spain is now facing a different situation. MARCo helped to democratize high-speed fibre, but the sector is debating whether keeping prices under cost discourages forward-looking investment. Amid accusations of a 'natural monopoly’ and a lack of reciprocity, plus European demands for resilience in the digital realm, Spain must either adapt its framework or else consolidate permanent 'de facto aid'.

Javi López, Vice-President of the European Parliament, takes it for granted that a new international order is in the making, but he wonders what role the EU can and should play in that reconfiguration. Here the MEP argues that the answer lies in effective European sovereignty, greater integration in critical sectors, and a foreign policy capable of cooperation, firmness, and geopolitical diversification.

Following his examination of the main issues facing China’s economy – particularly its problems of industrial 'involution' – MEP Jonás Fernández provides an exclusive analysis focused on what Europe should do in response. This second installment on the Chinese economy argues for a strategy of precision: dialogue around global public goods, selective protection against Chinese 'involution', and a European industrial policy focused on eliminating internal barriers rather than manufacturing European 'champions'.

Beijing insists it is staying the course. But after an institutional visit to China with a European Parliament delegation, MEP Jonás Fernández detects signs of slowdown, excess industrial capacity and structural tensions that could shape the Asian giant’s next decade. 'Agenda Pública' publishes his on-the-ground analysis exclusively.

Germany’s unexpected defeat at the United Nations has opened up a question in Europe: is Berlin still taking the support of its partners for granted? In his weekly column for 'Agenda Pública', editor and director Marc López Plana examines what this diplomatic setback reveals about the new balance of power in the EU, and how disagreements with Spain on key issues anticipate the end of automatic support in European politics.

The leader of Italy’s opposition has spent more than three years trying to build a left-wing alternative to take on Giorgia Meloni in the 2027 elections. In Rome, she sits down with Marc López Plana, editor and director of 'Agenda Pública', to explain what kind of Italy she wants to build as an alternative to the prime minister’s government and to call for a change of economic and diplomatic course.

In his weekly column, 'Agenda Pública' editor and director Marc López Plana analyzes Spain’s diplomatic transformation under Pedro Sánchez. Far from its traditional preference for 'passive consensus,' Spain has assumed a leading role in crises like Gaza and Iran. That ambition gives the country unprecedented influence, but it also increases our visibility: at the center of the global stage, every foreign policy decision is subject to stricter scrutiny and intense domestic political debate.

The indictment of former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the Plus Ultra case also has a reading from Washington, D. C. J. P. Carroll, 'Agenda Pública'’s columnist in the U.S. capital, examines the case through the lens of national security and the transatlantic relationship, looking at how it is viewed by two former CIA voices—Kevin Hulbert and Bjorn Beam—and Peter J. Brown, a former national security adviser to Trump.

"Only if we learn to understand the reasoning of others, to seek common ground or agreement, will we be able to move forward together," proclaimed Leo XIV in his first appearance during his apostolic trip to Spain. The Pope upheld "the importance of knowing how to listen” and thanked our country for its “fidelity to international law and multilateralism." Felipe VI, for his part, remarked that "in a world flooded with data and messages, empathy, understanding, and listening are essential." Both warned against the sterility of fear.