(August 4, 2025)
Italy, Spain, and Hungary have been in favor of mandatory chat scanning from the start. France could tip the balance since blocking the plan requires four countries representing at least 35 percent of the EU’s population. Paris has moved from tentative support to saying it could “basically support the proposal.”
A Spanish naval vessel will join the Global Sumud Flotilla for Gaza to provide assistance and, if necessary, conduct rescues, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said. Italy earlier announced it was dispatching a frigate after a night of drone attacks on the humanitarian flotilla opposed by the Israeli government.
(September 8, 2025)
Sumar had also called for Spain to break relations with Israel or at least recalling the ambassador, but PSOE rejected this idea. Consequently, Sánchez has announced nothing regarding a diplomatic break. Sources from the Foreign Ministry explain that such a move, also advocated by the party Podemos, would be counterproductive and harmful for Palestine. Spain, they emphasize, supports a two-state solution and therefore seeks to contribute to resolving the conflict. Breaking ties would exclude Spain from that process. Indeed, no Arab country — especially those critical of Israel — has severed relations, nor has the Palestinian Authority.
“What we’re now witnessing in Gaza is perhaps one of the darkest episodes of international relations in the 21st century, and in this regard what I have to say is that Spain has been very vocal within the EU and also within the international community,” he said. “Within the EU, what we have done so far is advocate to suspend the strategic partnership that the EU has with Israel.”
Albares reiterates to Andrii Sybiha that “Spain is and will be with Ukraine” and his Ukrainian counterpart thanks him for “Spain’s continued support”
Spain and Ireland are asking EU countries to suspend the EU–Israel Association Agreement on the basis that Israel may be breaching the agreement’s human rights clause.
“The European Commission must respond once and for all to the formal request made by two European countries to suspend the association agreement with Israel if it is found, as everything suggests, that human rights are being violated,” Sanchez told an event on Monday in Barcelona.
The agreement stipulates that free trade between the EU and Israel must be “based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.”
“I will propose granting Spain’s recognition to the Palestinian state,” Sanchez said on Saturday at a conference in Bilbao, Spain. “I do this out of moral conviction, for a just cause, and because it is the only way that the two states – Israel and Palestine – can live together in peace.”
He faces almost no internal criticism and on Friday he will take office for the third time as prime minister of Spain, after having managed to win an investiture vote inside parliament with 179 votes, more than the previous ones, and with broad cross-party support. If we add all the parties that have backed him — PSOE, Sumar, Catalan Republican Left (ERC), Junts, Bildu, Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Galicia Nationalist Bloc (BNG), Canaries Coalition (CC) — there are 12.6 million votes behind the new progressive government.
Sánchez’s Socialists and his preferred partners, Yolanda Díaz’s left-wing Sumar coalition, control 153 seats in parliament. Although the left-wing allies are unlikely to secure the backing of the 176 MPs needed for Sánchez to be confirmed as prime minister the first time the new parliament votes on the matter, they could make a bid during the second round of voting, in which the candidate to head the new government must receive more yeas than nays.
To be voted in as the new prime minister at the investiture vote, an absolute majority (176) is needed in the first vote or a simple majority (more votes for than against) in the second.
It will be the first time Spain sends troops to Slovakia, while the number of troops in Romania will be increased, although the exact figure has not been specified.
In zehn der zwölf Regionen, in denen abgestimmt wurde, regierte bisher die PSOE. In sechs dieser Regionen wurde sie nun von der PP abgelöst. Sanchez führt in Madrid eine Minderheitsregierung an. Auch sein linksgerichteter Koalitionspartner Podemos erlitt in den Regionen Stimmenverluste.
The leader of the PSOE, who heads a leftist coalition government, has decided to bring forward the general elections slated for December to July 23, in order to minimize the risk of further wear and tear on his administration over the coming months after the country’s right wing was emboldened by its resounding successes on Sunday, and to try and prevent the right-wing Popular’s Party (PP) and the far-right Vox grouping from scoring a clean sweep during the ballot to elect a new government.
Sánchez’s high-stakes gamble, which he announced just hours after the results came in, is based on the hope that any such deals will help to galvanise and mobilise leftwing voters and prove distasteful to supporters on the PP’s moderate wing.
Speaking at the Moncloa palace in Madrid on Monday morning, Sánchez said he had informed King Felipe of his decision to dissolve parliament and call a general election on 23 July, five months before the poll had been scheduled to be held.
(31.03.2023)
Sanchez on Thursday praised two aspects of China‘s position paper – „its complete and categorical rejection of not only the use but even the threat to use nuclear weapons“ and its respect for territorial integrity.
Sanchez declined to say what Xi had said about the issue.
(02.05.2022)
Officials said the devices were breached by the Pegasus spyware, made by an Israeli company, which is intended to track illegal behavior but has been misused by some governments.
Bei der Überwachung kam die israelische Spähsoftware Pegasus zum Einsatz.
Für jeden dieser Fälle habe CNI-Chefin Paz Esteban heute in einer parlamentarischen Kontrollkommission eine richterliche Erlaubnis vorgelegt, berichtete die Zeitung „El Pais“.
Bolaños machte keine Angaben dazu, ob die spanischen Behörden über Hinweise auf den Ursprung der Abhöraktion verfügen oder ob sie aus dem Ausland erfolgte.
Es sei aber absolut sicher, dass es sich um eine Attacke von außen handele, weil weil in Spanien alle Eingriffe von offiziellen Einrichtungen und mit juristischer Genehmigung erfolgen“, fügte der Minister hinzu.
Israel‘s NSO Group, the cyber offensive firm which developed Pegasus, said it was unfamiliar with the details of the specific case and, as a software provider, cannot know who the targets of its customers are.
Spain’s government is under pressure to explain why the cellphones of dozens of people connected to the separatist movement in the northeastern Catalonia region were infected with Pegasus between 2017 and 2020, according to cybersecurity experts’ group Citizen Lab.
Channel 4 News presenter Matt Frei asked: „Is this all very political and does Ursula von der Leyen, as a German politician and member of Angela Merkel‘s ruling CDU, is she now under pressure?
„Especially after the results of the regional elections on Sunday that she has to come out and take the gloves off.
„Is that what this is? Is it political?“
Ms Trillet-Lenoir replied: „I wouldn‘t say so. I would say it‘s a complicated explanation.
BBC‘s Katya Adler insisted that Italy felt under pressure to suspend the rollout of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine. While speaking on Newscast, she said despite its own advisors saying not to suspend the use of the vaccine, the Italian Government decided to plough ahead with the temporary ban. She claimed this was due to mounting pressure from their citizens with concerns due to bigger European nations Germany and France suspending the vaccine.
(15.03.2021)
Germany, Italy, France and Spain joined the ranks of European countries that have temporarily halted use of the Covid-19 shot made by AstraZeneca PLC over blood-clot concerns, dealing another blow to the continent’s sluggish vaccination rollout and threatening the credibility of the vaccine itself.
„Ist die Regierung in die Falle ihrer europäischen Partner getappt, insbesondere Deutschland, das am Montag beschlossen hat, den Impfstoff auszusetzen?“, fragt Le Monde.
Die Zeitung Libération geht noch weiter: Macron habe sich von der Bundesregierung unter Handlungszwang gesetzt gesehen. Mit seiner Pressekonferenz habe Gesundheitsminister Jens Spahn (CDU) den französischen Präsidenten kurz vor dessen geplanten Presseauftritt an der Seite des spanischen Ministerpräsidenten Pedro Sánchez unter Druck gesetzt:
Briefe stammten demnach auch vom britischen Premierminister Boris Johnson und den Ministerpräsidenten Spaniens und Italiens, Pedro Sánchez und Giuseppe Conte. Ein Sprecher Netanjahus wollte sich am Mittwoch nicht zu dem Bericht äußern.
Nur kurz nach der Abstimmung gingen Lockdown-Kritiker und Gegner der Regierung in Madrid und anderen Städten an die Fenster, auf die Balkone und zum Teil auch auf die Straßen, um lautstark zu protestieren. Sie machten ihrem Ärger Luft, indem sie auf Töpfe schlugen und „Freiheit, Freiheit!“ skandierten. Viele schwenkten spanische Fahnen, andere waren in die Landesflagge gehüllt.
(today)
Varios cientos de personas se han vuelto a juntar este miércoles para protestar contra el Gobierno de un Pedro Sánchez del que exigen su dimisión. Se trata de la cuarta movilización celebrada en Sevilla contra el Ejecutivo.
The protests in Madrid intensified over the weekend, after health authorities on Friday rejected the region’s request to move to the next phase of the coronavirus deescalation plan. While much of the country is now in Phase 1, which allows some degree of social interaction and the reopening of some businesses, Madrid remains in Phase 0, although a few restrictions have been eased.
(17.05.2020)
According to the ministerial order, published Wednesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), face masks must be worn in the “public street, in open-air spaces and any closed space that is for public use or that is open to the public, where it is not possible to maintain [an interpersonal] distance” of two meters.
The new rules apply to everyone over the age of six. The use of face masks is also recommended for children between three and five years of age.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez spoke Tuesday with China‘s President Xi Jinping to ask for medical supplies to help fight the coronavirus epidemic which has infected more than 11,000 people in Spain.
Nach Italien steuert auch Spanien auf Neuwahlen zu. Am Dienstag lehnten die Sozialisten (PSOE) das neue Koalitionsangebot der linken Parteiallianz Unidas Podemos (UP) ab. „Wir schätzen den Vorschlag, der uns programmatisch sehr nahesteht, sehen eine Regierungskoalition allerdings für undurchführbar”, heißt es in einem nur wenige Stunden später veröffentlichten Antwortschreiben der Sozialisten.
(28.05.2019)
The interview took place late Monday, just after Costa had a conference call with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the Netherlands‘ Mark Rutte and Belgium‘s Charles Michel.
Damit übernimmt die Bundesregierung die Rolle eines Scharfmachers, nachdem es die EU-Außenbeauftragte Federica Mogherini am Vortag vermieden hatte, eine solche Anerkennung auszusprechen. Auch die spanische Regierung hat sich inzwischen der deutschen Linie angeschlossen. Wie das Onlineportal eldiario.es am Freitag meldete, will Madrid der EU vorschlagen, Maduro eine Frist zu setzen, in der er Neuwahlen durchführen solle. Ansonsten werde man »weitere Maßnahmen« ergreifen, zu denen auch die Anerkennung Guaidós gehöre.