Sánchez says Spain is governed from Madrid, not Washington or Tel Aviv, as he warns far right is weakening Europe from within

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Monday that Spain would not take political direction from foreign capitals, while accusing an international far-right movement of building cross-border alliances to weaken Europe from within.

“Spain is governed from Spain, not from Washington. Not from Tel Aviv, of course, not from Moscow or Buenos Aires,” Sánchez said at the World in Progress forum in Barcelona.

He argued that for the far right, confrontation was “not merely a means of gaining power” but an objective in itself, and said traditional conservative parties risked strengthening such movements by normalizing their positions.

Sánchez also linked Europe’s vulnerabilities to the war in the Middle East and tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, describing the conflict as illegal and saying higher fuel prices had cost Europeans an additional €100 billion this year. The figure was presented as Sánchez’s estimate.

He called for greater European unity, pointing to joint gas purchases during the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an example of coordinated action. “When Europe is united, Europe wins,” he said.

Invoking Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday, Sánchez contrasted a cosmopolitan Europe built on cross-border ties with the nationalism and hatred that later destroyed that order, using the book as a warning against renewed fragmentation.

He also defended Spain’s economic record, saying the country had shown it could grow, create jobs and reduce its deficit and public debt without cutting public policies.

Sánchez said the European Union was “not in decline,” describing it instead as “a moral beacon for humanity” and a safeguard for human rights, democracy, cohesion and progress.