They say that Europe this week resembles Trump's United States a little more. It Once this law comes into force, European governments will be able to organize "raids" to find "irregular immigrants", investigate them, and seize their documents and belongings. Basically, they will be able to search people whom the authorities consider to have "immigrant faces""

Europe suffers from a technological lag. This seems indisputable. But when did it miss the boat? In reality, not so long ago. In the mid-20th century, it was still at the forefront, and in certain sectors, it maintained advantageous positions almost until the dawn of the 21st century. Then it collapsed.

China being the world's factory is starting to become a problem for the rest. Especially now that what they produce is essential, and with superior technology to ours; the times when the country did reverse engineering are long gone. Trump complained, and now the European Commission also does, which has set out to reduce a growing trade deficit between the Union and the Asian giant.

New warning from the European Commission to Spain over the legislation the Spanish government used to block the failed public takeover bid (OPA) launched by BBVA against Sabadell. Brussels has sent a new letter to the State reminding it, as it already warned last summer, that it is not complying with European regulations on banking acquisitions, mergers, and spin-offs. This is Brussels' prior warning before what is known as a reasoned opinion, which, if not heeded, will lead to the case being brought before the European justice system.

Brussels always pushes for more integration between European markets and to prevent, for example, different regulations in each autonomous community in Spain. However, the European Commission this Wednesday goes a step further in the economic and social assessment of Spain presented semi-annually by the European Commission and directly attacks the labeling in Catalan on products sold in Catalonia.

The executive president of Telefónica, Marc Murtra, has pointed out the "gigantic weaknesses" that Europe suffers from in a time of technological revolution. In his speech at the 41st Meeting of the Cercle d'Economia, the leader of the state's leading telco lamented that European administrations "do not have the capacity" to regulate North American technology companies. In the executive's view, the Twenty-Seven suffer from "extremely dangerous vulnerabilities, and which are very real" with respect to the planet's major technological powers. To face them, he calls for "making decisions." "All reports lead down the same path, but now we must execute," he stated.

New warning from the European Commission to Spain. Although the State is the largest economy growing the most in the European Union, it complies with deficit limits and is reducing debt, Brussels warns that it may slightly exceed the net spending cap and urges it to increase revenue through value-added tax (VAT) on bars, restaurants, and hotels. Specifically, sources from the Community executive recommend that the VAT for the hospitality sector rise from 10% to 21%, which they calculate – with data from Airef for 2024 – represents approximately 7 billion euros annually and the equivalent of 0.4% of the State's gross domestic product (GDP).

The European Union went from looking with suspicion at Giorgia Meloni's rise to power to embracing her discourse and her measures against immigrants living in the community bloc. The latest step that has confirmed this plot twist in the European institutions is the migration reform agreed this week, which in various aspects is inspired by the policies of the Italian Prime Minister, especially the camps in third countries to deport migrants living irregularly in the EU. This is a regulation that has stirred up a lot of dust among NGOs and centrist and left-wing European parties. Let's review the most controversial points of the new law.

Green light on the tightening of the European Union's migration policy. The European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council (formed by the governments of the member states) have reached an agreement this Monday that endorses the opening of immigrant deportation camps outside the EU's borders, such as those Giorgia Meloni has unsuccessfully created in Albania. The new deportation legislation also makes it easier for governments to expel people in irregular situations and toughens reception conditions.

The European Union does not want to start building the house from the roof. Community leaders and those from the vast majority of member states avoid answering every time they are asked about the carousel of names to mediate potential negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Brussels and European partners want to lay the foundations first. Both the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, and various Foreign Ministers and sources from the European Council agree in emphasizing that, above all, it is necessary to agree on what should be negotiated with Moscow and how, and then decide who leads a European delegation that in no case is intended to have the role of a neutral mediator, but rather as a party, and clearly in favor of Ukraine.

The European Commission will unblock 16.4 billion euros in European funds corresponding to Hungary, which Budapest did not have access to due to repeated non-compliance by Viktor Orbán's government with Community regulations. This was announced this Friday by the President of the European institution, Ursula von der Leyen, in a joint appearance with the new Hungarian Prime Minister, Péter Magyar, who has achieved this change of stance from Brussels through promises of reforms to fight corruption and restore the rule of law.

New fine from the European Commission against a large platform from outside the community bloc. Brussels announced this Thursday that it has imposed a fine of 200 million euros on the Chinese company Temu for allowing the sale of illegal products on its portal. "The evidence available to the European Commission indicates that it is very likely that consumers in the European Union will find illegal items on Temu," concludes the same community executive in a statement.

New measure from Brussels to try to reduce dependence on the United States and increase strategic autonomy. The European Commission presented a legislative proposal this Wednesday to prioritize European companies over American ones that provide satellite services throughout the European Union. "We want to boost Europe's competitiveness and strengthen security, [...] taking into account the current geopolitical context," remarked the Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty of the European Commission, Henna Virkkunen, in an implicit reference to Donald Trump's desire to distance himself from European allies.

The United Kingdom has had six prime ministers in the last ten years. That is, since David Cameron's failure with his Brexit referendum defeat, the country has settled into political instability that has been liquidating leaderships and majorities. Today, the Labour leader Keir Starmer is a deeply unpopular prime minister, questioned by his own party and by the electorate, for not having lived up to the leadership that his colleagues demanded nor to the expectations of improving living standards that the British needed. Starmer inherited a country fractured by Brexit, which never fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis, and which today faces again the risk of recession due to the consequences of the war in Iran. 79% of British adults declare themselves concerned about the rising cost of living compared to the previous month, and especially about the rising price of food. In this context, the electoral victory of Nigel Farage's Reform UK in the local elections on May 7 has been explained as the victory of resentment, and the British press has begun to analyze the supposed "ungovernability" of the country. But the crisis that the United Kingdom is experiencing is not exceptional. It is the portrait of a fragility that runs through Europe. The agonizing end of macronism is the clearest example.

European allies have set out to achieve military independence from the United States after the Donald Trump administration decided to abandon the security it has provided them since the end of World War II. They are multiplying defense spending and military capabilities and approving ambitious initiatives to strengthen and unify the European war industry. Although progress is slow, the European Union assures that in the medium term, by 2030, it will have achieved military autonomy in conventional capabilities.

Albert Sorrosal (Barcelona, 1964) has been working for over thirty years in companies advising on and auditing European funds, particularly of a regional nature. Among other things, he is an external consultant for the Directorate-General for Regional Policy of the European Commission itself and is currently focused on European Union funding programs in Ukraine, through the German company TESIM. We interview him to discuss the European Commission's new proposal for the next European multiannual budgets (2028-2034), which affects the governance of funds allocated to regional cohesion policies.

While the eurozone continues to register an anemic economic growth, Spain remains the major economy that is growing the most. Brussels has improved the State's economic forecasts and estimates that this year it will increase its gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures the size of an economy) by a tenth more than it had predicted, 2.4%. A percentage that far exceeds the average of 0.9% for the countries of the single currency and 1.1% for the European Union as a whole.

Donald Trump has warned since he regained the White House that he intends to abandon the protection that the United States offers to Europe, but it has not been until now that the Republican president has begun to turn it into reality. This Tuesday, the North Atlantic Alliance itself confirmed the withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. soldiers from Germany and the suspension of the temporary deployment of 4,000 more troops to Poland. And this Wednesday, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte, justified the Pentagon's movements and hinted that they will not be the last.

The European Union is moving towards the final approval of the trade agreement with the United States and is on track to meet the deadlines set by Donald Trump, who has threatened new tariffs if it does not definitively come into force by July 4. The trade pact, however, will not include the requests made by the European Parliament and will come into effect even if the White House applies customs duties higher than those agreed upon for steel and aluminum, and it will not be automatically suspended even if the US president again threatens the territorial integrity of the EU —as happened with Greenland— or generally breaches the agreement and negatively affects European companies.

It is common for Donald Trump's promises and threats to be blown away by the wind, and even more so when it comes to a whim caused by the words of the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who stated that Iran was "humiliating" the North American power. This time, however, it seems that the President of the United States will keep his word and the Pentagon will withdraw 5,000 soldiers from Germany. This was confirmed at a press conference this Tuesday by the supreme commander of NATO's allied forces in Europe, the American Alexus G. Grynkewich. "We have addressed the recent decision by the United States to withdraw an armored brigade from Europe," said the NATO leader.