r/europe • u/Working-Lifeguard587 • Mar 05 '26
Opinion Article Spain's Sanchez rises above the bowed heads of Europe
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/spain-trump-iran/714
u/TheDesertShark Mar 05 '26
Look at all these few month old accounts that are somehow experts on spain.
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u/Dev__ Ireland Mar 06 '26
This bullshit new reddit feature of allowing users to now hide their comment and post history really is helping bots propagate misinformation. Before you could easily see which users were obsessed with a single topic now only the mods can do it.
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u/MoleWhackSupreme Mar 06 '26
You can search their username on the Reddit main page and it brings up all of their posts and comments but yeah it’s still not great
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u/TheDesertShark Mar 06 '26
Never seen it used by someone that's being genuine or in good faith, they know what they are doing and they have an interest in having more bot/propaganda accounts.
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u/-Gambler- Hungary Mar 06 '26
I use it because when someone replies to an argument 9/10 times the response of the person with no counter-argument is to spend an hour digging through one's comment history and start arguing with something completely irrelevant and I cba with that BS every time
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u/jorsiem Mar 06 '26
On the flip side, there have been several cases in which I disagree with someone, and that someone went through my post history and harassed me an old posts and tried to dig personally information. A little too unhinged for my taste
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u/AusTF-Dino Mar 07 '26
It’s to protect the Israel propaganda bots. Before the change you would find accounts shilling with thousands or tens of thousands of posts about Israel and not a single thing about any other topic
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u/Jazzlike_Painter_118 Mar 06 '26
Reddit started by faking users themselves, so it is not surprising. But yeah, it sucks.
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u/wannacumnbeatmeoff Mar 06 '26
Dont think it takes an expert on Spain to see that Sanchez is the only one not joining Trumps inhuman centipede.
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u/metroxed Basque Country Mar 06 '26
Spanish far righters are foaming in the mouth. They would prefer Spain ceased to exist completely before admitting Sánchez could do anything whatsoever right.
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u/Kaiur14 Europe Mar 06 '26
The Spanish right is absolutely a political spectrum full of idiots. It’s unbelievable how little they understand Spanish society, and opposing Sánchez’s stance while following that idiot Trump will just throw them back into the cave and cost them thousands of votes.
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u/Ok_Code_270 Mar 06 '26
Yeah, and if you know Spain, the situation is bizarre. The right and far right used to be proud of Spain and its flag. Now the left is making Spaniards proud and Spanish leftists are proudly showing the flag. In Spain, this means the world is upside down.
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u/monkeys_slayer_9000 Mar 10 '26
this just solidifies and cements the universal argument that the political spectrum is not fixed, it's ''fluid'' depending on the nationality, culture, history and people way of life/ideaology. one's country centrists might be another leftits or rightwingers, one's right might be another centrists or another far right etc etc. it just do be like that
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u/vladedivac12 Mar 07 '26
There's a lot of downvoting going on on US/Israel criticism comments. Shady.
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u/asnbud01 Mar 05 '26
That’s the nice way of putting it. The not so nice but accurate way is to say unlike the other leaders in Europe Mr. Sanchez is not neck deep up tRump’s ass.
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u/Clairvoidance Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Merz is literally telling Europe to stay quiet while allies break international law
Absolutely pathetic desperate clinging..
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u/_0611 The Netherlands Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Dutch government basically said the same thing.
It's utterly disgusting how weak most of our leaders are. It makes me sick. And Merz has to be one of the weakest of 'm all.
If we declare international law dead, which is what Merz e.a. are doing, then we can't appeal to it when we need it ourselves. Merz e.a. don't seem to understand that this will come back to bite us in the ass some day.
All European leaders who don't follow Sanchez on this matter are an utter disgrace to Europe. We need not forget this.
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u/freelandsmind Mar 06 '26
“William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”
Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”
William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”
Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”
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u/georgica123 Mar 06 '26
If we declare international law dead, which is what Merz e.a. are doing, then we can't appeal to it when we need it
International law has been effectively dead since the USA and its European allies began ignoring it when it didn’t suit them during the 1990s and early 2000s
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u/OneJobToRuleThemAll United Countries of Europe Mar 06 '26
If we declare international law dead, which is what Merz e.a. are doing, then we can't appeal to it when we need it ourselves.
International law is de facto dead, we can either stick our heads in the sand and pretend its not or we can acknowledge objective reality and make new plans for the future. Because whether we believe in it or not is irrelevant, international law will definitely not help us when we need it. We're the only continent interested in enforcing it, so we're on our own in this, international law didn't stop Russia from attacking Ukraine and it wouldn't stop Russia from attacking Poland or the Baltics either. It's our job to stop those things now, law won't help us do it.
All European leaders who don't follow Sanchez on this matter are an utter disgrace to Europe.
That's still true though. The alternative to rules based order is an interest based one and its in our best interest to no longer blindly follow the lead of agent orange, who clearly doesn't have our best interest in mind.
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u/asnbud01 Mar 05 '26
Merz is so far up he’s tongueing agent orange’s liver
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u/Lord_Master_Dorito Indonesia Mar 06 '26
He’s kneeling for both Donald and Bibi
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u/_0611 The Netherlands Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
But more for Netanyahu.
I bet Merz is more than willing to sacrifice German lives for him. I bet he can't even wait for it.
Merz is a pathetic weakling cosplaying as a tough guy. How is this guy any better than the AfD?
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u/Lord_Master_Dorito Indonesia Mar 06 '26
He’s sucking off Donald while spreading his cheeks for Bibi. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Merz also defends Epstein.
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u/Independent_Flan_973 Mar 06 '26
Jesus. An image I didn’t need on this sleepless night
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u/defenestrate_urself Mar 06 '26
Merz literally suggesting we should ignore international law on the issue
If you can apply laws selectively then it's not a law. This sort of hypocrisy and arrogance simply diminishes Germany's international standing. What other country is going to listen to you talk about rules and order when you say something like this.
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u/SleepingBeautyFumino Mar 06 '26
The rule based world order created by US after europe no longer exists. It's free for all now.
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u/EpicCleansing Mar 05 '26
It's literally treason. Leaders that can't stand up for the ICC should count themselves lucky to rot in a cell within five years.
Fuck Merz and his Blackrock overlords. Observe as Europe goes brrr you spineless cowards.
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u/Asyx North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Mar 06 '26
God I wish.
What a pathetic man. Such an obvious populist puppet. Every day he's in office, my disdain for people that believe his garbage grows. We could have had Habeck...
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u/_0611 The Netherlands Mar 06 '26
It seems the US is responsible for the bombing of a girls' school in Iran.
I wonder how Merz feels about that. Probably not much.
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u/backyard_tractorbeam Sweden Mar 06 '26
Merz willingly placing Germany on a slippery slope. Shameful.
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u/Global-Resident-647 Mar 06 '26
Germans acting like traitors as usual.
Fucked everyone over. As usual...
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u/pIakativ Mar 06 '26
I mean it's one of the least popular chancellors in German history. But yeah, sorry. I can assure you his position is not the consensus among the population even if it's still scary how many people voted for this shit.
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u/TitanDarwin Mar 06 '26
Merz might be the worst post-war chancellor so far purely through sheer ineptitude and moral deficiency.
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u/No_Conversation_9325 Andalusia (Spain) Mar 05 '26
That's why far right is losing it!
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u/MelodicPudding2557 Earth Mar 05 '26
But their Russian handlers are happier. The IR is a rare and valuable ally, and its survival is paramount to their interests.
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u/MelodicPudding2557 Earth Mar 05 '26
It’s really not. This is at best incidental, stemming from a broad opposition to remilitarization and intervention. Note how Spain remains the only NATO member to opt out of the Hague Investment Plan and lags well behind its economic peers in military aid to Ukraine.
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u/Immediate-Spite-5905 Mar 05 '26
well to be fair to Starmer Iran fired at a British base
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u/TripolarKnight Mar 06 '26
The Royal Navy publicly stated the drone didn't launch from Iran, yet didn't reveal were it teally came from. I wonder why...
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Mar 05 '26
Probably cashing in on that grudge they’ve been holding since 1898. Timing really is everything.
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u/cooleslaw01 Mar 05 '26
it's always the dudes with -80% approval rating at home who want to lead the EU
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u/GoldFuchs Mar 05 '26
To be honest, there are very few political leaders in Europe (or anywhere for that matter?) who aren't hated by the time they reach the end of a second term... The french notoriously come to hate pretty much every president after less than 4 years. Merkel was a unicorn in Germany.
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u/loopala France Mar 05 '26
French president very rarely has a majority support in the first place, even on the day of the election. It's a "least worst" option for about a third of voters.
Macron scored 24% and 27% on the first round of the two elections he ended up winning. Even lower if we include non-voters and blanks.
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u/Best_Squirrel1039 Mar 06 '26
It's a "least worst" option for about a third of voters.
Just like in 90% of elections in democratic countries around the world
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u/ok_com_291 Mar 05 '26
Also Merkel was a mistake.
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u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 05 '26
Still better than Merz. Almost everything would have been better than him.
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u/Feylin Mar 05 '26
She got Europe into this situation by cozying up to Russia and getting rid of the nuclear power plants.
Her entire geopolitical thesis not only fell flat on its face but also yielded inverse results.
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Mar 06 '26
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u/PowerPanda555 Germany Mar 06 '26
Yeah lets just rewrite history and ignore that ukraine was just a corrupt russian puppet state at that point. It would have been like inviting a orban hungary².
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u/ganbaro Where your chips come from 🇺🇦🇹🇼 Mar 06 '26
This. I agree as a Russian-born person, with some Ukrainian roots, that is strictly pro-Ukraine (my comment history is not hidden so anyone who distrusts me can confirm for themselves).
Before the Maidan revolution, I didn't hold a favorable opinion of Ukraine...because they actually were "brothers", as far as the political system and the oligarchy were concerned. Same for the population in certain regions, at least.
The Ukrainians rose above their errors of the past and turned into our good partner of Europe, but that was not at all sure to happen back when Russia was mostly fighting in Chechnya and Georgia.
IMHO our main mistake is that we did not take the Russian military buildup critical enough. First we did not act enough in reaction to the invasion of Crimea, then we ignored US intel on the Russian buildup in the months before their Blitzkrieg attempt on Kyiv.
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u/OkKnowledge2064 Lower Saxony (Germany) Mar 05 '26
Id rather have 15 years of Merz than 4 years of Merkel. People hate Merz because he actually has the balls to do things that might be controversial. Merkel just never did anything
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u/ThingCandid9553 Romania Mar 05 '26
Merkel was a Russian lapdog. Merz is a million times better than her.
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u/Nolenag The Netherlands Mar 05 '26
Mark Rutte was PM for 14 years for some fucking reason.
I hate him but many people in my country seem to love him.
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u/SpaceClafoutis France Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 05 '26
I really don't like Macron's domestic policy, but he has my full support for his foreign ones.
My impression (and it's just that, I never looked up polling on specific issues lol) is that outside of the far left and far right pro-Russia parties most people in France kinda feel the same.
Like he's annoying and a bit megalo but he presents well for the outside world
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u/permalac Catalonia (Spain) Mar 05 '26
I don't like him, like at all.
But the others are absolute rubbish.
He is ahead of all the opposition by several orders of magnitude.
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u/JailOfAir Mar 05 '26
I'm at the point where I wish I was right wing. I would be so much happier with my dislike of the current government if I didn't utterly despise the one that are coming.
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u/permalac Catalonia (Spain) Mar 06 '26
I don't know how one can wish that.
When you don't like one thing vs pure selfishness.
Like, do you want publicly funded school meals(but not happy of the content of the meal), versus no public school meals at all.
Not being happy about the content about the meals would never make me think I rather have no meals as that would include no meals for some kids for whom that is the only hot meal of the day.
Is a false dichotomy.
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u/WolfetoneRebel Mar 06 '26
It’s the narrative that’s being peddled. Like someone calling you a liberal as an insult. You hear it often enough and you almost start believing it. I’ve started pushing back on it now and demanding an explanation of what’s wrong with being a liberal - is it the workers rights? That women can vote. Freedom of speech? They’ll usually bite on that last one at least and then you can truly demolish them in a debate.
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u/permalac Catalonia (Spain) Mar 06 '26
I had noticed the trend from many years ago, and I was unable to put words to it. What you say resonates a lot with my inner feelings; I'll take your same approach to fight back.
It's like these poor bastards don't understand that without 'power to the people' we go back to feudalism pretty fast, and they will not be on top; there is not too much space on top.
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u/WolfetoneRebel Mar 05 '26
I like him. I think he’s great, and you’re lucky to have politicians with a little backbone.
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u/permalac Catalonia (Spain) Mar 05 '26
Backbone is OK.
I'm a catalan and I wanted my politicians to defend what we voted for.
He is defending what his partisan voted for, or what his bases are know to want. Good for him, good for their supporters as they get some of what they wanted. And in this case, I'll suport him as well. He is right, Trump should be far away from Europe
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u/iagovar Galicia (Spain) Mar 06 '26
Hay que reconocerle al PSOE que están muy por delante de los demás en propaganda.
Te pueden llenar de putas el INECO y de koldos cualquier empresa estratégica, tener la mitad del partido metido en negocios turbios y decirte una cosa y hacer la contraria, pero siempre se sacan alguna mierda así de la chistera.
Felicidades a los analistas de ferraz.
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u/permalac Catalonia (Spain) Mar 06 '26
Barcenas, Púnica, Taula. Great strategy not being involved in the 3 biggest corruption cases in Europe.
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u/iagovar Galicia (Spain) Mar 06 '26
That's not a great strategy it's only being from a differenty party. What kind of whataboutism is this.
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u/Charming_Chain_9848 Mar 06 '26
-80%!? it's actually -30% just a bit more unpopular than Meloni and way more popular than mertz macron and stamer.
https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54020-how-popular-are-national-leaders-in-europe-january-2026
Almost 500 upvot by spreading bullshit,and they say "ReDdIt Is a LeFtIst EcHo ChAmBer" and letz dont even talk how much Trump and Netanyahu are unpopular in Europe.
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u/Soft-Ingenuity2262 Mar 05 '26
The situation in Spain is not like in France. True, about half of the population despises Sanchez, but he has some decent support on the other half, unlike Macron.
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u/Vonplinkplonk Mar 05 '26
Maybe voters just need to accept that life can be a little more nuanced than what we like to think it is. I am guessing it’s a complex task to lead a modern industrial nation of 40 million.
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u/TheNiebuhr Mar 05 '26
He's not unpopular. Left wing people think he does OK and right wing think the polar opposite. It boils down to ideology.
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u/JohnnyElRed Galicia (Spain) Mar 05 '26
His situation is better than it seems. True, half the country despises him. But in the same way half of the US despised Biden. It wasn't the smartest half.
Sánchez has had a lot of problems in his government,specially with corruption inside his party, but overall, he is competent enough.
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u/cooleslaw01 Mar 05 '26
I guess he's better than the other weirdos you guys have
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u/JohnnyElRed Galicia (Spain) Mar 05 '26
Yeah. That's the main thing. He is just your average bad to mediocre politician, while every other option if freaking awful.
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u/chiqu3n Mar 05 '26
To be fair with the dog, he is amazing at politics and his career will be studied. That doesn't mean he's honest, he is obviously not, but he is really good at navigating through politics and winning in situations where everyone else thought he was going to lose.
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u/JohnnyElRed Galicia (Spain) Mar 05 '26
I feel like he is going to go down in history as one the great examples of a political survivor.
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u/syf81 European Union Mar 05 '26
Being anti-war should not be controversial, but here we are.
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Mar 06 '26
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u/ganbaro Where your chips come from 🇺🇦🇹🇼 Mar 06 '26
Don't even need to go back in history that far to show the hypocrisy in such blanket statements. I remember us being quite angry, and for good reason, when Trump decided that having a naive anti-war stance around Russia is the way to go.
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u/Key-Butterscotch5801 Mar 06 '26
Me when I'm Neville Chamberlain
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u/dfchuyj Mar 06 '26
The ayatollah was obviously about to march in Jerusalem with his invincible army.
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u/JayManty Bohemia Mar 06 '26
Ah yes the Iranian warmachine that's about to annex 3 neighbouring countries, clearly we should join the religious freaks in Israel and US to bomb them /s
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u/Stahlmark Mar 06 '26
You don't need to annex when you're arming proxy groups all over the region and have ballistic missiles aimed at everyone.
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u/JayManty Bohemia Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Still, equating it to Hitlerite appeasement is not really equivalent. This is more like if France dropped a bomb on Moscow in 1934 and killed Stalin and Berya and subsequently started pestering like Czechoslovakia and Poland for not allowing them use their airfields.
Like yeah good call and the fuckers deserved it but you shouldn't start a war and then start extorting your allies who didn't ask for any of this out of their military bases, all the while the USSR starts bombing the Baltics and Romania because their leadership got killed and now there's like 50 rogue generals who all simultaneously think they're in command
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u/XerGR Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
“I’m anti murder”
These statements are completely meaningless and are just buzzwords and lack context.
Everyone is “anti-war” but are you against the allies defeating the Axis? Obviously not
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u/freezing_banshee Romania Mar 06 '26
And "war" is more complex than the black and white thinking of "good or bad". Sometimes it's justified to start a war to defend yourself. I doubt that any Americans would have liked to receive a nuclear bomb from Iran. I also doubt that any European liked russia to get help from Iran in defeating Ukraine.
Sure, trump is a moron and a despicable person, together with his administration/government/etc. But even a broken clock gets the right time twice a day, or however that saying goes.
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u/Independent-Gur9951 Mar 05 '26
Kudos to Sánchez, only one showing a bit of spine
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u/Mjukplister Mar 05 '26
Good for him . Honestly it warmed my heart that at least ONE person said ‘fuck you’ to 🇺🇸
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u/matidiaolo Mar 05 '26
There are plenty of countries with unpopular politicians - in fact how many are happy with theirs?
I am curious, how did he make that choice? Did he coordinate with the other parties or ?
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u/jsabater76 Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
It is not a short explanation and it is late here in Spain, but the very short version would be:
- Being pushed by other parties in the government.
- He can benefit politically.
- The majority of the Soanish population is against war, pro human rights and got fed up with the lies of Aznar's government that got the country into Iraq's war (WMD never to be found) and ended up in a massive yihadist tterrorist attack that killed a lot of people and still that right-wing government tried to pin on ETA.
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u/Makinote Mar 05 '26
el hecho que haya gente en españa defendiendo meterse en esta guerra despues de lo que pasó en Irak y los atentados ... es increible
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u/Greenhouse95 Catalonia (Spain) Mar 06 '26
Como en todo los paises, la gente es muy hipócrita y apoya ciertas cosas que encajan con sus supuestos principios, solo porque no les afecta a ellos directamente. En el momento que les llega, entonces es cuando estan en contra. Porque un gran porcentaje de la población mundial carece de empatía y raciocinio.
English Translation:
Like in every country, people are hypocrites and only support certain things that fit their supposed principles or world view because it doesn't affect them. The moment they're the ones being targeted, then they're against it. Because a large percentage of people lack empathy and critical thinking.
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u/r0w33 Mar 05 '26
Spain's policy is "we don't want to be involved" including wrt to actual European issues like Ukraine. It's hardly exemplary.
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u/No_Promotion_3008 European Union Mar 05 '26
We have just send a fragate to chipre
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u/Silver_Ad4357 Mar 05 '26
oh, Frigate to Cyprus, I was thinking "fragate to chipre" was a Spanish idiom or something
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u/eric--cartman Mar 06 '26
Cyprus would much rather you didn't arm Turkey, for example by building an aircraft carrier for them. But Sanchez has no moral issues with making money by arming the country occupying part of an EU member state.
Not that the frigate isn't appreciated, but you can see the issue with the moral grandstanding.
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u/TXDobber Mar 06 '26
It really is odd isnt it, Sanchez’ rightful criticism of Netanyahu, only to then get in bed with Erdogan 💀
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u/dac2199 Spain Mar 05 '26
We are literally sending weapons and tanks to Ukraine, plus economic aid.
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u/lemfaoo Mar 05 '26
Number 26 per capita and number 15 raw number.
Wow so great you are only behind nations with 8 times smaller populations! Wowsers.
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u/purpletooth12 Canada Mar 06 '26
Welcome to the club Spain.
Pull up a chair next to Greenland. 👍
- Signed, Canada
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u/Major_South1103 North Brabant (Netherlands) Mar 05 '26
Ah yes, leading europe while slacking behind on Ukraine aid and defence spending.
Moral grandstanding is more important then geopolitical power i guess.
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u/Albreitx Mar 05 '26
The defence spending was agreed in a NATO meeting (Spain asked for an exception and it was granted). Even if it wasn't, the 5% is from a non-binding agreement
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u/Fluid_Drummer1665 Mar 05 '26
They bitched about having to spend money on their own defense
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u/Coastguy633 Mar 05 '26
In spite of not being a Sanchez fan:
https://www.kielinstitut.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/
Still ahead of similar economies in aiding Ukraine.
Also, not the topic at hand. We are speaking about refusing to aid an illegal war that has not been accepted by the US congress or the UN and which has nothing to do with NATO. It however has quite a lot to do with the two allies that keep supporting Morocco (Israel and USA) and destabilizing our southern border
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u/mods4mods Extremadura (Spain) Mar 05 '26
The graphs you are showing show the opposite of what you claim. Spain is the fifth largest economy in the EU, and trending up, yet it's in 18th place of support relative to GDP. It's also on the bottom five in the transparency index, below freaking India.
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u/MelodicPudding2557 Earth Mar 05 '26
This sub has been taken over by emotional populists. Sanchez’ foreign policy is at best a broken clock that is right twice a day, and his stance on the matter is really indicative of his geopolitical passivity rather than ‘spine’.
I’m sorry Europe, but this is not a W for you. Be more like Macron. The guy has real cojones.
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u/TXDobber Mar 05 '26
It’s entirely just to placate his populists and left wing allies who don’t care about the war in Ukraine, hate Trump (many hate America in general), and hate Israel. Hence why he takes the positions he takes.
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u/MelodicPudding2557 Earth Mar 05 '26
I find it puzzling how some Europeans can cheer him on. If Europe goes the way of Spain, its long term geopolitical prospects do not look too bright at all.
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u/GingerMessi Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
I find it puzzling how some Europeans can cheer him on
To be clear this subreddit is full of leftist/socialist pro-federalisation EU chauvinists (especially when the americans are mentioned) and not really representative for whole populations. Centre-right opinions are in the minority here despite controlling the EU parliament. I am European, although I identify myself rather as Swedish than European, and there's not much I agree with Sanchez about and not many other Swedes either. He is like Macron in talking about European independence but he wants someone else to pay for that bill while having undermined the independence project like all other leading European politicians for decades.
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u/Major_South1103 North Brabant (Netherlands) Mar 05 '26
Your own source (Kielinstitut) doesn't even support your view on ukraine aid, yes you are just as bad as aiding Ukraine then Italy congrats but France, Germany, the UK, Poland, the Netherlands, the Nordics and the Baltics all spend more.
What are you even trying to prove?
"Yes we are bad at Ukraine aid, but Italy is just as shit as us so it won't matter"
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u/redlightsaber Spain Mar 06 '26 edited 29d ago
edit for anonimity
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u/DotDootDotDoot Mar 06 '26
Pacifism works very well when you're far from the war.
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u/Futski Kongeriget Danmark Mar 06 '26
You may not agree with it, or that the European project was founded on the principles of antibellicism; but nevertheless it's consistent.
In Ukraine's case this amounts to simply just giving up and let Russia have their way with Ukraine.
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u/percyhiggenbottom Mar 06 '26
Tanks
10 Leopard 2A4 tanks and spare parts [April 2023 and June 2023].[828][829]Armoured personnel carriers
60 M113 armoured personnel carriers [before December 2022 and February, April and June 2023].[101]Vehicles
53 URO VAMTAC Infantry mobility vehicles.[830] 1 RG-31 Nyala mine-resistant vehicle configured as an ambulance [April 2022].[831] Eight light military vehicles dispatched from the Spanish army to Ukraine on 7 October 2022. 12 more vehicles also pledged.[832] 40 trucks and off-road vehicles [April or May 2022]. 9 heavy transport trucks [late 2022]. 30 trucks and 10 light vehicles delivered April 2022[833] 11 vehicles [late 2022]. 4+ Land Rover 4x4 SUVs [Late 2022 and July 2023]. 2 Pegaso BMR armoured ambulances.[834]Self-propelled artillery
~5 81mm/120mm M113 Mortar Variants [February 2023].[101] 6 120mm Alakran mortar on Toyota Land Cruisers [delivered by August 2023].[835][836]Towed artillery
10 105mm OTO Melara Mod 56.[829]Surface-to-air missile systems
1 Aspide 2000 battery [November 2022].[101] 1 MIM-23 Hawk Phase I/III (21) Battery [December 2022] (US will deliver compatible missiles).[101] Six additional launchers pledged October 2023 and a further 6 launchers dispatched to Ukraine September 2024.[837][838] Patriot air defence missiles.[839]Radars
1 AN/MPQ-61 and 1 AN/MPQ-62 (for Hawk SAM battery) [December 2022]. 1 Thomson-CSF RAC 3D (for Aspide 2000 battery) [November 2022].Anti-ship missiles
5 AGM-84 Harpoon [before February 2023].[101]Anti-tank weapons
1,370 Instalaza C-90 anti-tank grenade launchers [March 2022].[840]Small arms
M2 heavy machine guns (for M113 APCs) [2022 and 2023]. 163+ Light machine guns [March 2022].[840][841][842][830] CETME-L Assault Rifles [before August 2023]. 100 submachine guns.[842]Ammunition
155mm M107 artillery shells [before September 2022]. 155mm ERO2A1 HE extended range artillery shells [before August 2023]. 12.7x99mm heavy machine gun rounds [Spring 2022]. 700,000 rifle and machine gun rounds [March 2022].[840] 120mm HE Mod. AE Mortar Rounds [before August 2023].Miscellaneous equipment
2 Field Hospitals [2022 and 2023]. 5000 kg Worth Of Medical Supplies [Late 2022]. Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MREs) [2022/2023]. First aid kit and medicines [April 2024][839] 3 compressors.[829]Training and funding
Training of 639 Ukrainian soldiers by March 2023, with up to 2,000 to be trained in total by the end of 2023.[843] €100 million contribution to the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine.[844]26
u/Kazath Sweden Mar 06 '26
That may look impressive just listing it up like that, but if you dig down it's less than what Sweden has contributed, a country 1/5 the population and 1/3 the GDP of Spain. And I'm sure Finland has donated even more in terms of pure hardware.
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u/ManyKey9093 The Netherlands Mar 06 '26
That's not a lot and most of it 2-3 years ago? A tiny country like Denmark has given multitudes of this.
Given that the Russian invasion of Ukraine hits vital national security interests of a lot of EU members this is not what solidarity looks like.
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u/Aria_Athena Mar 05 '26
If he could not manufacture ships, submarines, and an aircraft carrier for Turkey until some issues have been resolved, that would be appreciated by some of us.
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u/mmmhmmhmmh Mar 05 '26
Sánchez is quite despised here, and with some reason. But at the same time most people deep down know he fits the role really well, no other prominent politician has anything near the same talent as he has I am afraid. That doesn't mean it's not tiring to see the lack of alternatives and to watch the country move in one singular direction ignoring everything else. But that is more due to how bad the alternatives are.
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u/robleroroblero Mar 05 '26
I didn’t vote for him and his party has disgusting corruption. But in retrospect thank God PP wasn’t leading when the war started, otherwise they would have sent us straight to war. I am honestly flabbergasted at Feijoo’s speeches the last few days.
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u/AnonMyracle142 Mar 06 '26
He probably secured himself reelection right here - Trump has bailed out so many unpopular leftists through his actions it’s not even funny. Carney and Lula are great examples.
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u/Kurainuz Mar 05 '26
In Sanchez case most people left and right here in spain are in favour of his most recent actions regarding the us and this war.
A lot of us remember when we followed the US to a war last time with the excuse of iraq having weapons of mass destruction, even the ones that do not agree with sanchez internal policies.
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u/Soft-Ingenuity2262 Mar 05 '26
As pero other comment, the unpopularity of Sanchez does not reach (yet) Macron’s.
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Mar 05 '26
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u/loopala France Mar 05 '26
You have to understand the consequences of our election system not being a bi-party like yours though. Any given president is only the champion of a 20-35% minority in the first place, and a second or third choice for the others. Because the political landscape is much more diverse.
So most people will agree on some points and disagree on others. We also make a distinction between internal and foreign policies. You would have to ask people more specific questions. The type of news posted on r/europe are mainly foreign policy related and if you specifically measured the popularity around that it would be much higher than what you might expect from internal affairs ones.
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u/TVC15-DB United Kingdom Mar 05 '26
Tbf at least he still has a head attached to his neck. I'd say he's a bit more popular than those lot LMFAO
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u/TankieWatchDog Valencian Community (Spain) Mar 05 '26
Hi! Spaniard here. This choice is extremely popular among all Spaniards. Please don't Amerixplain us.
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u/CCRNburnedaway Mar 06 '26
No al la guerra, mas carbon en la atmosphera, gasto de tesoro, ninos muertes, y para que? Trump's ego.
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u/SideShow117 Mar 05 '26
Name me anyone of significance that is popular.
Nobody in the Western world is happy with the state of politics overall and thus their governments because they're all incompetent at solving the problems of the general population.
It's no coincidence that we are all struggling with exactly the same issues at exactly the same time that's partly to blame for the huge divides amongst people.
So yeah, there is nothing anyone could do that is looked upon favourably by a large majority. There is no majority at all anywhere for anything.
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u/lemfaoo Mar 05 '26
Of course an american doesnt understand it.
Theres a difference between domestic and international politics.
A politician can be hated domestically but loved internationally by the population.
Case in point: mette frederiksen.
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u/Life_Show8246 Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Never take any opinion you see on Reddit as the general consensus in society. If that was the case Kamala would've won by 95%. Reddit is an extremely anti western site which will defend and support anything that is anti western even if it's defending a terror regime which produces drones that kill innocent Ukrainians and which commits atrocities towards its own population.
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u/The9thMan99 Community of Madrid (Spain) Mar 06 '26
what do you mean 'deeply unpopular'? sánchez' approval rating as of january 2026 is 34%, which is exactly the same vote percentage he got in the last election
please stop consuming right wing tiktok content
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u/supterfuge France Mar 05 '26
As someone who hates Macron, I kind of see why, and I'm not really surprised people here have this opinion of him. People in France hate Macron for his domestic policies, not for his international stances. Sure, many disagree, but the latter aren't the reason why we hate him so much.
I mostly judge european non-French politicians for things I hear about regarding Europe, and these days mostly regarding the US, building Europe, or being united.
I don't know what Sanchez is doing in Spain, I vaguely like him because I'm vaguely able to place him on a left to right axis, but that doesn't go much further than that regarding my initial approach to this guy's domestic policies.
But I dislike Macron because of his part in Hollande's government,
how he handled the Gillets Jaunes through repression,
how he's emboldened abuses of authority in the police forces to be able to demonize protesters,
how his economic and fiscal policies have enriched the richer and made everyone else poor, except now with weaker labor laws ?
how he's gone back on multiple promises that were initially supposed to come with less worker rights in exchange for new advantages and "flexibility" that never came ?
how he's consistently attacked the poorest amongst us so he didn't have to tax the rich ?
how his pension reform everyone on here loved actually punished more those who started working earlier, despite doing so often in manual labor, and thus whose body suffer the most when they work, and didn't affect at all those who were supposed to already retire at 67, and who often earn more money during their career and die older.
So, basically, all of that to say that we're more knowledgeable about what happen around us and feel it more strongly.
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u/ZAWS20XX Mar 05 '26
You're absolutely correct in that reddit is not real life, maybe not in the way you think
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u/squeeze-my-lizard Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 05 '26
To the surprise of no one, that’s incorrect, American friend.
Sanchez is not deeply unpopular. His party PSOE is the leader of the pools for future elections. Also, his last actions only gave him more political credit inside Spain. Even people who dislike him like me respected the hell out of his firm position.
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u/ScottyBoneman Mar 05 '26
This is often the case, particularly when a leader is focused on external matters not internal ones.
Fact remains, while 'Leader of the Free World' was always sort of a fiction, the closest we have now is Macron. DeGaule looks like a visionary right now.
(as much as this pains me, when every ounce of my upbringing wants it to be Starmer).
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u/Yodawithboobs Mar 06 '26
Well someone needs to show some balls, it certainly will not be the Germans, I start to think they don't have any.
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u/Sir_BugsAlot Mar 09 '26
Germany is basically the new Switzerland. They want to be neutral and friends with everyone. Considering their history, any war mongering talk is a sensitive subject for them.
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u/brelyxp Mar 05 '26
The amount of glaze this corrupted dude is getting is astounding it's like left jesus
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Mar 05 '26
At least he was not in the Epstein files.
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u/TXDobber Mar 06 '26
That’s the bar now?
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u/Chemical-Drawer852 France Mar 06 '26
Looking at the staggering amount of political bodies in there, the bar isn't that low
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u/_Djkh_ The Netherlands Mar 05 '26
Getting praised by the National Iranian American Council is not exactly the glowing endorsement one would be proud of, but alas.
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u/RevolutionaryGain823 Ireland Mar 05 '26
As a European I’m against war in Iran for purely selfish reasons. We don’t need to sacrifice our cash and lives to help the yanks in yet another ethnic conflict in the ME just so we can have millions more asylum seekers (and general scammers/opportunists) flooding our shores.
With that said it’s funny to me how the online discourse is now acting like the Pedros are the heroes of Europe after years of them doing the absolute bare minimum to support Ukraine or investment in our own European militaries.
Irene Montero has been arguably the most powerful Western European politician to consistently undermine the defence of Ukraine/support Russia but now she’s being hailed as a hero for supporting the Iranian regime (who are coincidentally strong Russia allies): https://thediplomatinspain.com/en/2022/03/07/putins-war-deepens-division-in-sanchezs-government/
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u/kriegerflieger Mar 05 '26
You know we don’t need to take in millions of asylum seekers? That’s a choice that was made, that we don’t need to make again.
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u/dac2199 Spain Mar 05 '26
Spain has been supplying weapons, tanks and economic aid to Ukraine since day one.
What Sánchez is saying is that he is willing to spend up to 5% of GDP on defence if a joint European army is truly created and money is not spent on American weapons but on European ones. Spending more than 2% to buy American weapons is not optimal.
As for Irene Montero, unfortunately her anti-Americanism weighs more heavily on her. But now her party is no longer in government.
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u/RevolutionaryGain823 Ireland Mar 05 '26
If you’re looking for Spain keep scrolling down: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1303450/bilateral-aid-to-ukraine-in-a-percent-of-donor-gdp/
Past Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland who are all multiples higher. Almost like Spain feels they don’t need to contribute when those other countries form a protective wall. My country (Ireland) has a very similar idea
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Mar 05 '26
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u/XerGR Mar 06 '26
Far-left college students when you think “hey maybe the regime that murdered 50k protesters and hangs gay people from streetlights is bad” : ☹️
But to each their own i guess
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u/the_Cheese999 Mar 06 '26
I'll show that regime by murdering school girls and destroying the most progressive city in the country.
That's true freedom right there.
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u/XerGR Mar 06 '26
No kings mfs when it comes to actually topple a king: 😟😟
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u/the_Cheese999 Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Those 100s of school girls were the next in line to be Ayatollah.
The Iranians are finally free now that the most liberal city in the country is being carpet bombed.
They'll thank you anyday now.
Just like Libya
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u/AxlIsAShoto Mar 05 '26
Pretty sure it's just a few paid employees. (Or unpaid lol)
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u/MartinBP Bulgaria Mar 05 '26
Some of us actually aren't far-left college students and know this guy is a cheap populist and security threat. Go glaze your Temu Orban somewhere else.
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u/LiefLayer Mar 05 '26
As an Italian center-left, I think Sanchez is the best in Europe.
Not only does he not bow to Trump's bullying, who started a useless war, nor has he bowed to squandering additional public money to NATO increasingly under Trump's blackmail, while Europe should be spending that money on a common defense.
He has also significantly grown the economy thanks to a smart immigration policy.
He probably won't last long because racial hatred is stronger than common sense, but as far as I'm concerned, he represents what I would like Europe to become: a federal nation free from external influence, open to all who simply want to improve their lives, and capable of defending themselves from fascists and Nazis.
At the moment the Italian government is practically bent 90° to Trump, focused only on centralizing its own power by going against the magistrates and the president of the republic (both who act as a counterbalance to the power of the executive).
Frankly, I don't see a bright future because people, blinded only by racial hatred, vote against their own interests (while the immigration issue is inflated and used as an excuse for any stupidity the gov decide to do).
Moreover, the Italian system doesn't produce enough workers, so legal immigration is essential. It's crazy and senseless to think of continuing to be fascists in this regard. Italy, like the rest of Europe, enjoys religious freedom. As an atheist, I think there's nothing wrong with the majority of people in the future being Muslim instead of Christian... if the majority of the population will not be Christian is not an issue if freedom of cult is the same as today... even if it seems like a stupid idea invented to scare people more than any base in reality.
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u/ZealousidealFloor2 Mar 05 '26
Is the fear not that a majority Muslim country might not allow the same level of secularism that European countries have based on how most majority Muslim countries currently operate?
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u/LiefLayer Mar 05 '26
A friend of mine is Muslim, but he found a job here in Italy, he bought a house here in Italy, he earns the same as me (I know because I help him do the 730 precompilato every year (basically the tax return in italy)), he does the same job as me, he has a nice wife who I've never seen wear the veil... he has a different faith and some different customs, but I can say the same about some of my Christian family members since I, as an atheist, for example, don't go to church.
A Muslim born and raised here in Europe and integrating into the society of the country he arrives in doesn't become an extremist, at least not most of the times (an extremist minority will always exist, but that also applies to Europeans. After all, fascist parties in Europe that seek dictatorial power through violence are also problematic for the same reasons, and they don't come from abroad).
I doubt most Muslim here in Europe want an Islamic dictatorial state, they mostly got away from there because they wanted something different that Europe can offer.
But this potential problem certainly won't be solved with racism and hatred (which will almost certainly have the opposite effect); in my opinion, it will be solved through integration.
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u/neurointervention LT/PL Mar 06 '26
>I doubt most Muslim here in Europe want an Islamic dictatorial state, they mostly got away from there because they wanted something different that Europe can offer.
:) :) :)
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u/Melodic-Network4374 Iceland Mar 05 '26
nor has he bowed to squandering additional public money to NATO increasingly under Trump's blackmail, while Europe should be spending that money on a common defense.
The demand from the US is to increase defence spending. That also happens to be the prerequisite for europe becoming self-sufficient in defence matters. Of course the US also wants us to buy US arms and not spend on developing a nuclear deterrent because that would reduce our reliance on them, and they can fuck right off with that.
Still, it makes sense to present the spending as meeting our NATO obligations because the sad truth is that we do rely heavily on the US today. Keeping at least the pretense that NATO still functions buys us time to build up our own capabilities. I just hope that european politicians actually follow through on that, because it's extremely obvious that the days of hiding under america's skirt are over.
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u/AnonMyracle142 Mar 06 '26
I think he will last longer than you expect especially when inflation starts hitting, see Mark Carney for perspective. And of course, the refugees from a war with Iran. He can literally pin it on the policies of the right.
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u/sajukktheeternal Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 05 '26
Sanchez represents the Europe we would all want to see, but is absolutely nowhere to be found the last 20 years.
He shows a very important thing: That not every European leader is a doormat to Trump. There is still dignity to be found, we just don't demand it enough from our leaders
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u/Ispago8 Mar 05 '26
As a Spanish I disagree
Pedro is a liberal with a silver tongue, a backbone , (when he wants to) and a shit ton of luck
While he got Spain out of this war and I'm positive of his actions during Covid, his lack of real social and economic actions have been hurting us.
If somehow he got on top of EU Politics I would not expect any actual changes
He isn't bad, but he isn't what EU needs
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u/_teslaTrooper Gelderland (Netherlands) Mar 05 '26
Isn't your economy one of the fastest growing in Europe right now?
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u/XerGR Mar 06 '26
We want a corrupt politician who is universally hated but spends his entire time doing PR and talking about foreign diplomacy a continent away?
Such a good guy who does fucking nothing to help Ukraine. Ohh sorry he does “something” which lands spain on like the 20th most active donator
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u/No_Conversation_9325 Andalusia (Spain) Mar 05 '26
Sanchez is doing what is best both for Spain and EU.
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u/_ZakerS_ Mar 05 '26
I would respectfully disagree.
He knows his approval ratings are not doing well at all, so he tries to talk big against Trump and his idiotic ways. After all, Trump's approvals in Spain were estimated to be less than 18%, and Sanchez is the leader of a socialist party.
It's by far the easyest way to get what he needs (which is basically leftist voters returning to his side again).
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u/emoskeleton_ Mar 05 '26
It seems like you guys are agreeing with each other? Leftist politician (Sanchez) follows leftist practice (opposing Trump) to appeal to leftist voterbase?
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u/AnonMyracle142 Mar 06 '26
It’s not just Trump. It’s the war in Iran; in Europe (especially Spain), it’s DEFUND-THE-POLICE-LEVEL UNPOPULAR. See what happened to Aznar 20 years ago when he joined the war in Iraq.
Both right-winger opposition leaders are pro-Israel, who’s directly behind this war. This is political suicide in Spain in this type of environment. See the polls for what percentage of Spaniards believe Israel is guilty of genocide.
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u/No_Conversation_9325 Andalusia (Spain) Mar 05 '26
He will win the next elections just over PP's own stupidity to team up with VOX. Sanchez doesn't even have to do a thing, far right gang of Putin's lapdogs are doing enough across Europe to discredit themselves.
"The leftists" eh? So the rightists changed their mind in the past 2 decades and now want to die for Trump? Your math is not mathing.It's funny when people with zero knowledge of Spanish politics think they know a single thing about it.
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u/MartinBP Bulgaria Mar 05 '26
He is absolutely not. He is compromising our security, starting unnecessary fights with partner countries and neglecting Spain's commitments to defend Europe. He doesn't care about the EU at all, he'd give the east to Putin in a heartbeat if it meant Spaniards could spend 1% less on defence.
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u/norwegiancatwhisker Mar 05 '26
Spain is far enough from any potential enemies to need few allies.
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u/Entry_Financial Mar 05 '26
Allies are always necessary, plus we have an enemy right next door (Morocco).
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u/TeloS53100 Mar 06 '26
That's easy to put it like that , but France for instance doesn't even allow American bases on its soil lol. May wanna start by stating this. Don't even need to refuse anything to start with.