Why Pedro Sánchez is swimming against the tide: the secrets of a singular foreign policy that refuses to align with Trump

Former Spanish foreign minister insists it is contradictory for Sánchez to refuse to further increase spending in NATO while demanding more European strategic autonomy in defense matters on the other hand. “It’s like when you want your building’s tenants to renovate the elevator, but when you are told how much it costs, you refuse to pay. Others are entitled to think that you are losing credibility,” he laments.

“Furthermore, the president has chosen to confront Donald Trump and is obsessed with the idea of ostentatiously distancing himself from all those who, in his eyes, embody his spirit, such as when he now explains to us that the big tech companies want to dominate the world through social networks,” he adds. An obsession that, according to the former minister, adds to Sánchez’s “pronounced taste” for making foreign policy “a personal matter.”

On this point, García-Margallo denounces the fact that the president has long unilaterally modified the main lines of diplomacy, which were once defined by mutual agreement between the government and the opposition during informal meetings held in Madrid every two or three months, which no longer take place today. Decisions that, according to him, pose risks to Spain’s foreign policy line, breaking with an essential rule since the return of democracy after Franco.

“Officials from different sectors of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are unaware of certain decisions, as happened with the major shift imposed by the president in the Maghreb, which broke the consensus on Western Sahara by endorsing Moroccan autonomy,” the former Spanish colony. Until then, Madrid had always advocated for a negotiated solution under the UN framework, including a referendum. But the government’s unexpected shift, seeking to appease Morocco, has caused a crisis with Algeria.

In Spain, as elsewhere, it is almost a tradition: leaders gradually turn away from domestic politics, where the blows rain, during their second term. The former minister believes that this is the case with the current occupant of La Moncloa. According to him, Sánchez is convinced that “it is easier to appear where no one challenges you than to deal with the problems we have at home.”

Considered by both supporters and detractors as one of the boldest politicians in Spain, the socialist leader came to power in 2018 after defeating the then-president, Mariano Rajoy, in a vote of no confidence. A first in Spanish history. He won by surprise, obtaining the support of left-wing forces as well as nationalist and independence parties in order to “regulate the institutions” after the Popular Party’s condemnation for corruption.

To this story has been added, in recent months, a continuous stream of judicial controversies affecting the closest circle of the socialist president. The investigation involving his wife, Begoña Gómez, for alleged influence trafficking related to her professional activities and her arrival at La Moncloa, led him to announce, in a “letter to the citizens,” that he is taking a few days to reflect on whether or not to continue his mandate. This pause, which ends without political consequences, earned Sánchez the title of “Drama King” from the British weekly The Economist.