NATO has no court or coercive power that can force a member state to reach 5% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in military spending. However, the rest of the allies, especially the United States, can exert all kinds of diplomatic pressure, economic and military to pressure countries like Spain, which refuses to accept Donald Trump's demands and wants to stay at 2.1%. And this is what the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance himself, Mark Rutte, has hinted that the White House will do against Pedro Sánchez's government.

It has been days since Donald Trump began warming up for this week's NATO summit in Ankara. Although until recently he achieved almost everything he set out to do from his allies, the President of the United States has seen European leaders refuse in recent months to participate in the war in Iran and even criticize him. Furthermore, even though they had committed to it at last year's Atlantic Alliance summit, more and more partners are admitting difficulties or directly refusing to spend 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. Two issues that deeply anger Trump, and his European counterparts are already preparing for the US president's reproaches, according to NATO diplomatic sources: it remains to be seen in what tone.

One of the images that occupied the most front pages of the NATO summit in The Hague last year starred Pedro Sánchez. In the family photo of the allied leaders, the Spanish Prime Minister was seen slightly displaced to a corner, a little apart from his counterparts. Although it was a small detail, it was symptomatic and perfectly portrayed the solitude of the socialist leader in the Atlantic Alliance, dominated by the United States, now under Donald Trump.

The journalist and Cidob researcher Carme Colomina has just published Europe is a state of mind (Ara Llibres). The former correspondent in Brussels and collaborator of ARA analyzes the current state of the European project and the challenges it faces, and offers clues on how to overcome them.

The European judiciary has endorsed the European Commission's decision to fine Google with the largest penalty in the history of the European Union for violating EU antitrust legislation. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Thursday rejected the American tech giant's appeal against Brussels' punishment and upheld the imposition of a fine of up to 4.1 billion euros, slightly lower than that initially applied by the European executive.

United States pressure on NATO allies to spend more on defense and do it buying American weapons doesn't stop. Washington's ambassador to the Atlantic Alliance, Matthew Whitaker, has warned that Donald Trump's administration will carry out a new strategy to make its transatlantic partners believe: "It will bring benefits" to governments that spend more on defense and punish those that allocate fewer resources to it.

The European Union launched this Tuesday the new tax of 3 euros per product on low-cost packages from outside the community bloc, a measure that directly impacts platforms such as Shein, Temu, and AliExpress. The decision, which marks a change in the model of massive online purchases of small value, is part of a reform of customs controls with which Brussels aims to respond to the explosion of international e-commerce. According to data from the European Commission, last year the EU received nearly 5.9 billion packages of this type, four times more than three years ago. The vast majority, 90%, come from China.

For some time now, the regime of Vladimir Putin has initiated a hybrid war against European partners. Disinformation campaigns, support for destabilizing political movements, computer hacks, and, lately, especially incursions with drones into the airspace of the European Union and NATO countries. Faced with this type of attack, which is becoming increasingly frequent, European allies are accelerating the development and industrialization of unmanned aircraft.

This week has been particularly tough in Brussels. Not only because the city, without even shutters on most houses, is not at all prepared for heatwaves like the one we have experienced. But also because the European Union has marked a new setback in the consistency between what it preaches and what it does. After last week the European Parliament gifted us chilling images with the celebration of the new law to expel migrants with shouts of “Send them back, send them back”, this week the European Commission met with the Taliban. There are few possible nuances to this sentence.

The European Commission has proposed this Friday to extend by one year plus the temporary international protection regulations for Ukrainians who flee the war and seek refuge in the European Union. However, Brussels has proposed amending legislation to exclude from the right to remain in EU territory all Ukrainian citizens who are of military age (mostly men between 23 and 60 years old) and are able to serve in the Ukrainian army.

The anti-immigration agenda has been gaining ground in Europe for some time. Less than a week ago, far-right MEPs greeted the approval of a law to speed up the expulsion of immigrants and the construction of centres in third countries to host deportees with applause and shouts of "Send them back!" ("Send them back", in English). And this Tuesday, high-ranking European officials have received in Brussels none other than a delegation of the Taliban from Afghanistan with the idea of exploring the possibility that refugees from this country who are in Europe can be returned in the future.

The constant threats and humiliations from Donald Trump against the European Union are accelerating the European bloc's process towards greater autonomy. The European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs has voted in favor – by 43 votes to 14, with 1 abstention – to proceed with the creation of a digital euro, an initiative that had been stalled in the community chamber for years.

Ten years ago, the United Kingdom was immersed in the campaign for the Brexit referendum. Supporters of leaving the European Union promised that, by regaining control of borders and trade policy, the UK would soon become an economic power of such magnitude that no one would remember the time it belonged to the Union. There would be fewer immigrants, less taxes would be paid, and, thanks to new trade agreements, there would be so much prosperity that everyone would live better. With this promise, on June 23, 2016, the Brexiters won at the polls by a narrow margin of votes: 51.9% versus 48.1%.

Agreement in disagreement. European leaders only agree on one thing about the proposal they have on the table for the next European multiannual budgets (2028-2034): they don't please anyone.

Pedro Sánchez is already used to swimming against the current in the European Union. He was one of the first leaders to raise his voice against Benjamin Netanyahu and, later, against Donald Trump. He also refused to accept the major rearmament demanded by NATO and, among other things, is the voice that has shown itself most openly opposed to the hardening of migration policies. And now, he adds another battle in which he finds himself increasingly alone: at a time when the community club intends to toughen its tone against China, Sánchez defends it as a "potential ally". "Europe needs friends", he defended at the entrance to the meeting of European leaders.

The United States administration has once again attacked European allies from Brussels. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Thursday a new review of the deployment of American troops in Europe and threatened to stop paying its NATO dues until all allies fulfill their defense spending commitments. Spain, for example, has refused to commit to reaching 5% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, as demanded by the White House. "Some countries have not yet shown a credible path to meeting commitments made in The Hague. Too much talk," lamented the American leader.

The relationship that the European Union should maintain with China has divided member states in recent years, but now all agree in qualifying the trade deficit between the European bloc and the Asian giant "unsustainable", according to various diplomatic sources. For this reason, more and more European governments are advocating for an escalation of tone against Beijing, and want to request at the leaders' summit this Thursday and Friday in Brussels that the European Commission put forward measures to limit Chinese imports.

The European Union is in a hurry regarding migration and, at an unusual speed, the European Parliament has definitively ratified the regulation that will allow the installation of centers outside the community territory to deport immigrants, as the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has attempted in Albaniathe Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, to Albania

Donald Trump's threats to withdraw US military capabilities from Europe were serious. The Pentagon has reported that it intends to reduce its presence on the European continent for the rest of NATO allies, and European countries are preparing and organizing to replace and fill the defense gaps that the North American power will leave, according to diplomatic sources from the Atlantic Alliance. In fact, many European allies have already put on the table what capabilities they can contribute and how they can contribute to Europe's security.

The official discourse of the European Union calls for a common defense, greater military autonomy, and less dependence on Donald Trump's United States. At this point, however, the reality is that the most pressing issue is unresolved. As community leaders admit in hushed tones, European allies still lack sufficient war industrial capacity to stop buying weapons from the North American power, a deficiency that has become evident again with the failure of the production of a latest-generation Franco-German fighter jet, which was also to have Spanish participation. the failure of the production of a fighter jet of Franco-German origin of the latest generation, which was also to have Spanish participation.