Sanchez, as Europe's conscience, reminds us we do have leverage

Merz, as Europe's capitulator, sat in silent acquiescence while Trump threatened Spain with embargo. Spain's expulsion of the US military shows the power Germany has but refuses to wield.

Last night, people across Europe were horrified by the video coming from the White House showing the German chancellor sitting approvingly next to President Trump as he insulted and threatened Spain, saying that the US was going to organise an embargo against the country for its refusal to help with the war on Iran. Friedrich Merz, a man who has time and again done the exact opposite of what he professes to believe regarding Europe’s sovereignty, made not a peep of objection. He was the first European leader to meet with Trump since the war against Iran was launched five days ago.

Expectations that Merz would come with a coherent European position were already low. He had already declared international law irrelevant earlier this week in his defence of the US-Israeli attack and his alignment with Trump. And in Washington he stayed in character as the leader of an American vassal state. Trump lavished praise upon the obedient Merz, saying Germany had “helped us out” with the attack on Iran by letting the US use bases in the country to stage the attack. “Germany has been great, terrific,” he said. “Spain has been terrible...we’re gonna cut off all trade with them.” The chancellor sat silent while Trump went on to talk of an embargo against Madrid. “I’m not happy with the UK either,” Trump added as he attacked Keir Starmer for only allowing partial use of the British Diego Garcia base for the war. Still nothing from Merz. He even concurred with Trump that Spain is a disgrace when it comes to military spending.

Sanchez was initially the only EU leader to criticise the US-Israeli attack on Iran. “Let’s remember that one can be against a hateful regime, as is the case with the Iranian regime…and at the same time be against an unjustified, dangerous military intervention outside of international law,” he said in a speech on Monday. Yesterday, Sanchez’s objection was joined by French President Emmanuel Macron – who made a more tepid acknowledgement that the war is “outside international law”. That’s it. The 25 other national EU leaders, as well as President von der Leyen, have steadfastly refused to criticise this illegal war – and a few of the far right leaders (such as the Czech prime minister) have even praised it. Von der Leyen and Europe’s national leaders have limited their condemnation to Iran for its reprisal attacks against US allies, as if those attacks came out of the blue with no context. It is the exact same thing that happened after the US invasion of Venezuela in January. The European leaders have effectively proclaimed international law to be dead.

We know why they won’t say anything – they’re scared. They’re scared of exactly the kind of reaction that Trump has doled out on Spain, and their cowardice has overwhelmed any sense of morality or decency they may have once had - as well as any obligation to protect their own citizens who will now greatly suffer because of this war. And they have been scared to even be seen near Sanchez lest they too attract Trump’s wrath. Though the Greens, centre-left and Liberals tried to table a debate about Trump’s threat to Spain in the European Parliament today, the debate was rejected by President von der Leyen and Merz’s European Peoples Party by once again joining with Meloni’s ECR, Orban’s PfE and Weidel’s ESN. Even the European Parliament, under conservative leadership, won’t stand up for Europe in the face of Trump’s threats.

Exposing European leaders’ lies

Merz’s silence also spoke volumes about what the German chancellor has been covering up. Why is Trump so angry with Sanchez? Because the Spanish government has forbidden the US from using bases in the country as part of the war against Iran. At least 11 U.S. KC-135T and KC-135R tanker aircraft left the southern Spanish bases of Rota and Morón Sunday night after the Spanish order. “Spanish military bases will not be used for anything that falls outside the agreement with the United States and the United Nations Charter,” José Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, said Sunday. He called the US-Israeli operation “unilateral” and said Spanish bases cannot be used for activities that violate international law.

“Spain told us that we can't use their bases and that is alright we don't need them,” Trump said sitting next to Merz. But then he went on to say, “If we want, we can just fly in and use it. Nobody is going to tell us not to use it.” He gave away the game there, because the US does indeed need the bases in Europe in order to conduct this war and any other military adventure in the Middle East. And that is what successive governments in Europe have tried to hide from their citizens.

Why was Merz being lauded as the ‘best European in class’ for the Trump war machine? Because the US bases in Germany have been pivotal to the war’s build-up over the past month. Just take a look at this military aircraft tracking map from 18 February. For weeks, the US has been using their bases in Britain, Belgium, Germany, Italy and elsewhere in Europe as staging posts in preparing the attack against Iran. At any moment, Merz, Starmer, Meloni, or any of the other US military base hosts (that is, most EU countries except France) could have forbidden those operations to continue in an effort to prevent the coming war. They didn’t.

Merz has been insisting that Germany is not involved in the war against Iran. So then why was Trump praising him at the White House for his involvement? Because Merz is not telling the whole truth. Without the bases in Germany, this war would not be possible. Germany, and the other European countries who host US bases, are complicit in this war as long as they allow their territory to be used to stage it. And I’m sorry to break it to you, but this was also the case two decades ago during the Iraq War. The German government may have stayed out of it, but Chancellor Schroeder still rolled out the red carpet for the American planes refuelling in Germany as they conducted the invasion. This has been the pathetic hypocrisy at work on this continent for decades, as politicians have refused to be honest with the public about the degree to which they are beholden to the US military.

If the Europeans had refused to allow the US to use Europe as a staging post for the 2003 Iraq War, it would not have happened. And it is the same for the Iran War today. It doesn’t matter that Germany said ‘no’ to the war on paper back then, just as it doesn’t matter that they are not directly participating in the operation today. They enable these American actions because of the faustian deal they made with the US long ago, a deal they still cannot bear to part with even as it saps away at their morality and their dignity.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte gave away the game in an interview on the American ultra-right-wing TV channel Newsmax today when he said: “NATO is a platform for the United States to project power on the world stage. Because this whole campaign in Iran needs these base requests to be positively engaged with by NATO allies, as they are doing, making use of key assets here in Europe. The fact that we stick together, the United States and Europe and Canada, is crucial for the success of this American-Israeli campaign. And we see key nations in NATO are doing everything necessary to enable [the war].”

There is a reason that Spain’s refusal to participate in this war made Trump so angry as to threaten an embargo. It’s because it does matter to him, quite a lot. Rutte is right, though in his pathetic effort to convince MAGA to love NATO he probably didn’t realise that he was exposing the critical threat that the Europeans have not yet realised they can make. The US would be unable to exercise its global power without its bases in Europe. As Alberto Alemanno noted today:

“The Iran war has revealed something Europeans had forgotten: the US depends on Europe as much as Europe depends on the US. In denying the Pentagon use of its bases, Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez revealed a strategic leverage Europe never thought to use. A coordinated EU stance on US military bases would be a game changer.”

The threat to kick the American military out of Europe has been floated by some think tanks as something that should be put on the table – along with the Anti-Coercion Instrument, the coordinated sell-off of US bonds and tariffs on US services – as leverage against Trump’s threats. These levers are sometimes characterised as ‘nuclear options’ of mutually assured destruction that would hopefully never have to be pulled but could get the US to back off its aggression toward Europe. The military one is particularly appealing because it calls one of MAGA’s biggest bluffs: that they want to pull US troops out of Europe. The US will never voluntarily pull out because it would be a crippling blow to America’s ability to project global power - and we can see that playing out right now as we speak. If MAGA says they’ll leave, Europe should invite them to. In fact, they should demand it. Only then can we have an honest conversation about whether and in what form the American military occupation of Europe can continue. The US isn’t going to leave voluntarily, and Europeans would gain immensely by calling their bluff and exposing how badly the US needs Europe.

German disgrace contrasted with Spanish courage

Every German should be ashamed of the pathetic, supplicant display by their chancellor in the White House yesterday. By contrast, every Spaniard should be proud of the courage and moral clarity shown by their prime minister. “We are not going to be complicit in something that is harmful to the world and contrary to our values and interests simply out of fear of someone’s retaliation,” Sanchez said defiantly in a speech today. He said the country is prepared to fight back against a US embargo. The markets seemed to believe him. Spain’s main equities benchmark Ibex 35 traded higher after the speech, as European markets rebounded. Spanish bonds also rose, showing no sign of impact from Trump’s threat.

Contrast this with the behaviour of Germany’s chancellor, who has been consistently grovelling to Trump and making excuses for him over the past year. He has collaborated with Italy’s far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni to force through an American wishlist of EU deregulation at the Council. And it was Merz who corralled the European Council at its June 2025 summit into approaching the US with an offer of surrender, which President von der Leyen then dutifully executed for the chancellor at Trump’s golf course the following month. Von der Leyen may now be the face of EU surrender, but Merz is the power behind that supplicant throne.

Buy my new book The Owned Continent here

What’s even more depressing than the complete lack of courage or morality from our European leadership is that they are still facing such little push-back for this from their national media. Incredibly, Merz’s chummy appearance with Trump was actually praised by many German newspapers. “Merz has built a stable relationship with Trump” gushed the Süddeutsche Zeitung above a photo of the two roughhousing like brothers. Others simply accepted at face value the chancellor’s later explanation that he didn’t want to be impolite to the US president while sitting next to him, and swallowed his claim that he clarified his stance against a Spain embargo later. “Three hours after the show in the Oval Office, Merz is back in front of the cameras in a bare conference room in Washington, this time alone,” wrote German paper FAZ, “‘I didn’t want to deepen or perhaps even intensify the discussion there in public,’ Merz says, explaining his silence. He told Trump [privately] that Spain belongs to the EU and that a trade agreement can only be negotiated together. He also said that London is making a ‘ver very large, very very valuable’ contribution. The logic seems clear: choose your battles wisely. Especially when it comes to the Oval Office show.”

FAZ wasn’t the only German newspaper praising Merz’s stoicism. “Merz knows the game,” wrote Handelsblatt. “The German chancellor has met Trump often enough in recent months and also speak regularly with the US president on the phone. That could explain why Merz remained silent in front of the press when Trump threatened Spain with trade sanctions. And why he agreed with Trump’s actions in Iran. Merz has been doing quite well for months by keeping his dissent behind closed doors.”

If this is Merz doing well, I don’t even want to think about what it looks like for him to do poorly. The only major German newspaper to really call out yesterday’s spectacle for the disgrace that it was has been the leftist publication Der Spiegel. “Merz has abandoned Europe,” Spiegel declared in a commentary this morning. “The chancellor should have intervened and defended the two allies (Spain and the UK) against Trump, but he refrained from doing so. He even criticised the Spanish for not complying with NATO requirements [note: that’s not quite right, Spain never agreed to the new 5% requirement, they meet the existing 2% guideline]. Madrid reacted angrily, but Merz later defended himself by saying that he did, in fact, come to the aid of the two allies in a confidential conversation.”

That Germans are not showing solidarity with their fellow Europeans will surprise few in Spain, or in Southern Europe as a whole. Memories of the euro crisis are still fresh here. But for Germans themselves, is this really how they want to be seen on the world stage? As grovellers? As defenders of war? As dismantlers of international law? Are they really content to be praised as Trump’s best-behaved vassal in Europe?

Maybe Germans should take some inspiration from their neighbours to the South for once. As EU Observer managing editor Elena Sánchez Nicolás wrote in an editorial today entitled, “Europe’s voice of moral sense speaks Spanish”:

“Sanchez’s message broke with EU appeasement, offering a fresh contrast to leaders from countries such as Germany, who have insisted that ‘this is not the time to lecture our partners and allies’ over potential breaches of international law. Such a balanced and pro-multilateralism approach would once have been the mainstream line of EU institutions. But today, the risk of upsetting Trump translates into hyper-cautious statements.”

“This is not the first time that Spain has broken with EU ranks. During the Gaza war, Spain emerged as one of the most vocal countries criticising Israel’s actions, demanding the respect of human rights in the Strip, an immediate ceasefire, recognition of Palestine, and halting arms sales to Israel. These Spanish positions helped amplify Europe’s moral authority and credibility abroad.”

That is the sad state of Europe today: a continent whose America dependence has compromised it to such a degree that it is left without agency, without dignity and without any plan for how to navigate this new world. “Europe backs a war it didn’t start, won’t fight, and can’t afford,” observed Alemanno earlier this week. “Washington gets the geopolitical prize. Europe gets the bill. A coalition of small and medium powers, with no reliable protector and everything to lose from a world governed by brute force, just cheered on brute force. Who exactly is this foreign policy for?”

It is a tragedy for Europe that Pedro Sanchez sits so lonely at the EU leaders’ table, ostracised by the others because he has dared to criticise Trump. We need more Sanchezes and less Merzes, Melonis and von der Leyens. But unfortunately, this continent is cursed with leaders who have more loyalty to America than they do to their own citizens.