Euroskeptic sentiment

Sánchez’s deputy blasts EU for letting Trump trample all over it

Spanish Deputy PM Yolanda Díaz argues the bloc’s “servile” attitude toward Washington could fuel Euroskeptic sentiment and contribute to a far-right surge.

By Aitor Hernández-Morales

Spain’s left-wing Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz hit out at the EU’s leadership for being weak on the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, amid rumbling discontent in Madrid over the conflict and Europe’s response.

“Europe is an orphan at a moment of historic gravity,” Díaz said during an interview with POLITICO in Brussels. “The kind of leadership the bloc needs is lacking.”

The EU, Díaz said, “should be fighting for a political Europe, an economic Europe, a social Europe, a fiscal Europe, a Europe that has its own foreign policy, that has its own policy of self-defense and is not held hostage by [U.S. President Donald] Trump.”

And, Díaz added, Brussels should be pushing back hard against the “completely illegitimate” war in Iran, which the U.S. and Israel launched late last month, sparking turmoil in the Middle East as Tehran retaliated with missile and drone attacks across the region.

Díaz took aim at European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for not immediately moving to condemn the attack on Iran, and said she should speak out swiftly in defense of the same international law principles that can be found in the Charter of the United Nations.

“Europe must stand on the side of international law, human rights and democracy,” she said. “Given the times we’re living in, none of us can afford to remain silent.”

Her remarks echoed those of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has assumed the role of Europe’s chief Trump critic and has repeatedly denounced Washington’s “unjustified and dangerous military intervention” in Iran.

Díaz, who this week chided German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for paying “homage” to Trump, argued the EU’s stance toward the U.S. president could also have serious domestic consequences.

“The fact is that European citizens are against the illegitimate war in Iran,” she said. “By supporting it, the EU could end up increasing the Euroskeptic sentiment that often also fuels the growth of the far right.”

Díaz praised Spain’s refusal to back Washington’s military offensive and Madrid’s defense of “human rights, dignity and decency around the world.”

She added that Spain’s stance was increasingly backed by other EU leaders, noting that even Italy’s right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, had said on Monday that the war represents “a breakdown of the rules of international law.”

‘Not afraid’

Trump, in Diaz’s view, poses an existential threat to Europe that the EU is failing to recognize.

“In December of last year Mr. Trump released a strategic document in which he took aim at Europe and explicitly said that he has had enough of us,” she said, in reference to the Trump administration’s blunt National Security Strategy. The text fleshes out an “America First” approach to Europe that is focused on gaining a mercantilist advantage over the continent.

Díaz, who leads the far-left Sumar party, the junior partner in Sánchez’s coalition government, argued that the U.S. president’s outlandish public statements camouflaged a deep animosity toward the bloc grounded in economic objectives.

“Everything he does has these crazy overtones, but deep down the actions are motivated by economic interests in the U.S.,” she argued. “Europe needs to wake up once and for all.”

The top Spanish minister blasted EU leaders for taking a “servile” attitude toward the U.S. president, adding that the approach was “foolish, because it’s clear Mr. Trump does not respect those who attempt to be his vassals.”

Díaz said her country “is not afraid” to stand up to the U.S. president and does not feel intimidated by his threat to cut commercial ties with Madrid.

“Trump has dictated a global state of emergency and broken all the rules,” she said. “In these moments of uncertainty, of pain, of absolute uncertainty, we must be bold in our response.”