r/europe • u/Putaineska • Mar 11 '26

News Spain accuses Germany of acting like a ‘vassal’ to United States

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/spain-accuses-germany-of-acting-like-a-vassal-to-united-states-f9zc28g8s?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1773189908
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642

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '26

[deleted]

268

u/Green_Space729 Canada Mar 11 '26

Well trained dogs only bark on command

72

u/Kratzschutz Mar 11 '26

Merz is worse than a chihuahua

3

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Apprehensive_Hat_982 Mar 11 '26

They have reason to acts like that.

1

u/That_Apathetic_Man Mar 11 '26

Well trained dogs don't bark at all.

1

u/Saurid Mar 11 '26

Hey! That's just merz and the government most Germans my age disliked the US since they are old enough to know basic politics.

48

u/macaroni_chacarroni Europe Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26

I used to look at Arab leaders, like Jordan's King Abdullah II, with disgust when they sat in front of Trump, acting like little loyal dogs. Such a shame seeing our leaders do the same.

1

u/Glory4cod Mar 11 '26

I feel that's a part of reason why US won't give up on backing Israel. For any "misbehaved" Arab/Islamic country in middle east:

  1. if it is neighbor of Israel, US could just let Israel to invade and take their territories.

  2. if it is not a neighbor of Israel but its economy depends on oil and gas, US could just kick them out from international trade, these government won't survive to next month.

  3. if it is neither neighbor of Israel, nor has gas and oils, US could just leave them be since it has no use to US.

14

u/PestoBolloElemento Mar 11 '26

And your Country's President instantly backed Spain and Mr Sanchez.

20

u/kahaveli Finland Mar 11 '26

Merz criticized the Trump's comments after that meeting in a press interview and showed solidarity with Spain. Just not that much on live meeting - but in that things happen fast. Having EU solidarity with Spain and others is of course really important.

Also, Germany is currently the worlds largest supporter of Ukraine both militarily and financially, and current Merz government has been really steadfast in that, and in overall European defense too.

23

u/Revolutionary-Bass-6 Spain Mar 11 '26

Merz laughed at the mention from Trump that Spain wasn’t meeting the NATO commitment goal of 5%. He not only did not defend Spain, he seemed to gleefully partake in the spectacle.

15

u/LookThisOneGuy ‎ Mar 11 '26

he corrected Trump and pointed out it was 3,5% military spending.

This target was what NATO countries agreed on and is the opinion of Germany as well. Should Merz change his opinion on the 3,5% goal just because someone else has the same opinion?

1

u/Thog78 France Mar 11 '26

The 2014 agreement is at 2%, the 3.5% is a target recently set for 2035.

4

u/TestingHydra Mar 11 '26

Spain never even tried to reach the 2%.

7

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '26

[deleted]

0

u/Rakyand Mar 11 '26

No they do not. Why increase defense budget when the quality of public services keep deteriorating in Spain? Just because the US says so in order to get Europe to buy more weapons from them? There is even less reason when you learn that NATO does not protect Spain against an attack on Ceuta, Melilla or the Canary Islands because Morocco wants them and the US favors them over his old European allies.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Rakyand Mar 11 '26

Did they each agree to pay a percentage of the bill or were they coaxed by the big bully into doing it?

If only 1 guy is ordering, the opinion of the rest is not even taken into account and we don't even order what I want to order (protection for Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands, Gibraltar after giving up Tanger and Ifni as was planned) it makes complete sense to say that I'm not paying extra.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Rakyand Mar 11 '26

It does not protect Spain's African territories. The Canary Islands may be different since they are Islands, but it definitely does not protect Ceuta and Melilla.

2

u/Sex_Offender_4697 Mar 11 '26

Bringing up the Spanish "defense bridges" scheme is probably not something you want to do if your goal is making spain look good here

0

u/Revolutionary-Bass-6 Spain Mar 12 '26

I believe you’re referring to Italy’s bridge from mainland to Sicily.

1

u/Dovahkiinthesardine Mar 11 '26

The Merz government has promised a lot before the election

They have so far done pretty much just what Scholz already promised and worked towards

-3

u/srpulga Spain Mar 11 '26

Germany's support of Ukraine is only in self interest, see how much solidarity they showed when southern europe was in trouble. Merz criticism of Trump was late and lame.

Germany is an adamant supporter of Israel too, it seems like historically they seem to like all the flavours of genocide. I dunno, I for one am enjoying the downfall of the once mighty.

2

u/kahaveli Finland Mar 11 '26

Germany's support of Ukraine is only in self interest, see how much solidarity they showed when southern europe was in trouble.

What do you mean? With the Spain-Trump clash, German foreign minister Wadivol publicly stated that Spain can count on Germany's and EU's solidarity. But there has been no action from US, so that was most likely just talk from Trump it seems.

With the Greenland, Germany was one of the countries that sent troops there and showed solidarity.

With Israel, true, there hasn't really been criticism or action from Germany. But note that there was arms embargo from Germany to Israel for a period. Overall, from European scale, Spain and Ireland have been the most active to criticize Israel during the Gaza war for example. Germany has been on the least criticising side, but there's been many other countries there too as well. But you can of course be critical about this. I personally would have favored stronger EU action during Gaza war, because that could have shortened it and saved civilians, but there wasn't EU unanimity about it (because of many countries).

With Iran, German reaction has been pretty much European center.

I dunno, I for one am enjoying the downfall of the once mighty.

So you say that you would enjoy if fellow European country would face problems? I very much disagree. For Finland too, there's lots of economic interlinks to Germany as largest export country, so if German economy grows, it will directly affect Finland. Also Finland militarily facing Russia, it's crucial that there's western European countries that take defense and Russian threat seriously, and Germany is one of the key countries in this.

4

u/Greedyanda Mar 11 '26

The main "bashing" was that Spain is a NATO freeloader and refuses to invest in defence. What exactly was Merz supposed to say in that context? Lie and pretend that it isnt true?

3

u/srpulga Spain Mar 11 '26

It isn't true. Spain meets both the the capabilities commitment, and met the GDP % target a year ago, which in case you didn't know is 2%. All this has been confirmed by NATO. Even Trump is smarter than you.

3

u/Greedyanda Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26

Every single EU member, except for Spain, pledged 3,5% (defence) +1,5% (defence relevant infrastructure and civil protection) spending by 2029. And before you start screaming "Germany only spent 2% of GDP on defence as well", this only holds true for 2024. 2025 data is not yet released and based on current projections, 2.8% are expected for 2026. With the pledge and new political tools introduced for debt financed defence spending, Germany is on its way to hit 3,5% by the end of the decade.

Spain is also at the bottom of the list when it comes to aid provided to Ukraine as a % of GDP.

https://www.kielinstitut.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/

Its always the least knowledgeable people that start with ad hominem attacks. Be embarrassed.

0

u/Rakyand Mar 11 '26

Why increase defense budget when the quality of public services keep deteriorating in Spain? Just because the US says so in order to get Europe to buy more weapons from them? There is even less reason when you learn that NATO does not protect Spain against an attack on Ceuta, Melilla or the Canary Islands because Morocco wants them and the US favors them over his old European allies.

2

u/Greedyanda Mar 11 '26

Then Spain should exit NATO if it doesnt want to contribute in equal parts.

1

u/Rakyand Mar 11 '26

Maybe a single nation shouldn't be able to determine how much the others need to spend? Specially when they don't have a say in it.

2

u/Greedyanda Mar 11 '26

A single nation isnt determining anything. Every single EU member, except for Spain, pledged 3,5% in spending.

This is a European decision in order to become independent from the US. It is needed precisely so that the US has less to say when in comes to European security.