Pedro Sánchez: EU hero or Spanish problem?
Many outside observers see Sánchez as a left-wing EU hero, but scandal fatigue has eroded his standing inside Spain.
Spain
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Spain’s Sanchez uses China trip to urge Beijing to ‘open up’ to end trade row
Despite being one of China’s main economic allies in Europe, Spain’s prime minister has urged Beijing to take steps to reduce its ‘unsustainable’ trade deficit with the EU.
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Spanish defiance or German deference: which one works better with Trump?
Appeasement has not prevented Donald Trump from temporarily suspending military aid to Ukraine, repeatedly threatening sweeping tariffs on European exports, or even suggesting the use of force to annex the sovereign territory of a Nato ally – Greenland. It has not prevented the US from launching a military operation against Iran that risks undermining European security, empowering the Kremlin, and potentially triggering a global economic downturn.
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To be or not to be (involved) — that is the questionIs the UK involved in the US-Israeli attack on Iran – or is the UK *not* involved in the US-Israeli attack? The answer (apologies to Shakespeare’s Hamlet) seems to be: depends upon who you ask?
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![“‘Fuck AfD [Alternative for Germany]’ reads a placard at a German demo against the far-right party, which in 2023 secretly advocated for ‘remigrating’ millions of German citizens (Photo: Unsplush)](https://static.euobserver.com/2024/05/b2c619b6-b2ca-4dd7-a490-ac7070c7dc94-8b882efc-c4a2-41db-af80-e18ae66508e0-aa58df87-50f7-4989-aa68-bc706e74cbc9.jpeg)
Europe’s far-right is divided on the Iran war — that’s an opportunity for the political centre
The far-right’s unity unravels when the debate shifts from domestic grievances on migration and climate-change denial to foreign policy. Nowhere is this clearer than in their response to the US-Israeli war of choice in Iran. Far-right parties across Europe are divided – both internally and among themselves – over how to respond to the US-Israeli war of choice in Iran – and so are their voters.
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Why the EU Commission’s plan for an AI data-centres boom is short-sighted
Water-resource conflicts already happening in Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands will only worsen now that the EU Commission plans to triple data centre capacity in Europe over the next five to seven years. Little thought has been given to the oligopolistic cloud market and how it will evolve if the EU triples its data centre capacity.
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Listen: Could a registry of doctors who refuse abortions improve access in Spain?
A court ruling has just ordered the city of Madrid to create a registry of doctors in the region who refuse to perform abortion procedures. Are there still many of these conscientious objectors in Spain and across Europe?
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Stunned, sidelined and disunited: the EU response to Iran war
Unable to defend European interests, unwilling to hold Washington and Tel Aviv accountable, and therefore impotent in the face of great-power predation. This failure is not merely moral — it is strategic.
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Listen: Does Spanish PM Sánchez have real EU backing in his standoff with Trump?
A transatlantic rift is opening. Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez has condemned the US-Israeli attacks on Iran and blocked American access to Spanish bases —directly challenging Donald Trump. The question now: how far can Spain go in defying Washington?
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EU Commission backs Spain after Trump’s Iran war trade threat to Sánchez
The European Commission’s remarks follow the threat by Donald Trump to halt all trade with Spain, following PM Pedro Sánchez denial of the use of military bases in the peninsula for further attacks against Iran.
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Listen: The fabricated controversy around Spain’s Therian subculture
In Spain, a small group of people who identify spiritually as animals, called Therians, has caused a big stir online. Few actually showed up to rallies, but social media made them seem much larger, turning a playful subculture into a surprising political talking point.
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Spain seeks probe into AI-generated child sexual abuse on TikTok, X and Meta
Spain’s government has asked its public prosecutor on Tuesday to investigate TikTok, X, and Meta for potentially spreading AI-generated child sexual abuse material on their platforms.
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Listen: Spain wants to regularise half a million undocumented migrants, in full contrast with European migration policies
Spain wants to regularise half a million undocumented migrants. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe is busy toughening migration rules. Is Spain the very last country on the continent to have a positive message around migration?
