Europe distances itself from Trump and approaches Sánchez's 'No to war'
European leaders try to convince Orbán, who is in the middle of an election pre-campaign, to lift the veto on the macro-loan to Ukraine
BrusselsPedro Sánchez had not seemed so comfortable in Brussels for a long time. He feels influential in European institutions by opposing the war in Iran, and capable of diverting attention from domestic problems, such as the lack of budgets. He knows that the European Union, although at first it seemed to be giving in to Donald Trump, has been gradually moving closer to his 'No to war' and is increasingly distancing itself from the involvement in the conflict that the White House is demanding.
In the same vein as the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, the vast majority of leaders, to a greater or lesser extent, have assured that "this is not their war" and are increasingly openly accusing Trump of initiating the conflict. This is because the discourse that Sánchez, French President Emmanuel Macron, and President of the European Council António Costa, have been echoing among their counterparts. The consensus is once again – at least this week – that the European Union must defend international law and multilateralism.
In fact, this is reflected in the conclusions that are expected to be approved at Thursday's leaders' meeting. "The European Council calls for de-escalation and maximum restraint, and for full respect for international law by all parties, including the principles of the United Nations Charter and international humanitarian law," says the text, which ARA has accessed and which the EU heads of state and government are negotiating.
Even the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who completely backed Trump at the beginning of the conflict, has asked this Thursday that "the war end," and has expressed optimism about the "signal" from the President of the United States and has interpreted that the White House is "ready to end the fighting." The "signal" from the American leader is that this Wednesday he assured that he was unaware of Israel's attack on the South Pars gas infrastructure and promised that, if Iran stops its aggressions on Qatar's gas facilities, Tel Aviv will also stop attacking Iranian energy facilities.
Despite this, Sánchez has applauded the change in discourse from the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who defended the rules-based world order more forcefully as the days passed, as did a good part of the European partners, who have shifted towards positions more similar to those of the Elysée or Moncloa. The Spanish Prime Minister has also appreciated that Merz, although publicly criticizing Spain together with Trump for avoiding increasing military spending to NATO levels, privately conveyed to the President of the United States that Spain is a reliable partner.
On the other hand, the head of the Spanish executive has also advocated for promoting the green transition to reduce energy dependencies and, in the long run, avoid energy crises such as the one derived from the war in Iran. Thus, he has expressed his opposition to the intention of a bloc of countries, led by Italy and Germany, to reduce the EU's climate ambitions to mitigate the consequences of rising fossil fuel prices, which harms the competitiveness of European industry.
Regarding temporary measures, European leaders have on the table a potential gas price cap, similar to the one first agreed upon in the Ukraine war, reducing taxes on electricity bills, or state subsidies to help pay bills. However, diplomatic sources anticipate that no concrete measure will be agreed upon at this Thursday's summit.
Orbán and his election pre-campaign
As usual, one of the main protagonists of the summit is once again the Hungarian Prime Minister, the pro-Russian Viktor Orbán. He is in the midst of his election pre-campaign and polls predict a defeat for him. He has made Brussels and EU aid to Ukraine one of his main battlegrounds, and although he had already given his approval, he is blocking the ratification of the bloc's 90 billion euro micro-loan to Kyiv, which is key for Ukrainian troops to defend themselves against the Russian attack.
Most European leaders are confident of convincing Orbán, but diplomatic sources are rather pessimistic to ARA. They recall that the elections are not until April 12th and see it as complicated for the Hungarian government to make a move before then. In fact, Budapest continues to block the micro-loan even though the EU and Ukraine have already agreed to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline, which was the condition Orbán had set to lift the veto. This infrastructure, which Russia destroyed and will be repaired with European money, connects Russia with Hungary and Slovakia, the two EU partners closest to Vladimir Putin's regime.
