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pedro sánchez
Commemorating Fall of Fascism in Spain, PM Sánchez Warns Against Musk Political Interference
"Forgetting the mistakes of the past is the first step towards repeating them again."
Jan 09, 2025
Right-wing billionaire Elon Musk's decision to wade into the political battles of several European countries did not go unnoticed by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who used a Wednesday event marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco as an opportunity to warn against Musk's recent commentary.
Without naming Musk, Sánchez warned that the billionaire Tesla CEO's leadership of an "international reactionary" movement is a threat "that should challenge all of us who believe in democracy."
The Spanish leader spoke days after Musk—an ally and megadonor to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump who he's selected to co-lead the proposed Department of Government Efficiency—commented on an article that stated foreign nationals in Catalonia are disproportionately convicted for sexual assault, writing, "Wow" in response.
"Foreign nationals are neither better nor worse than Spanish citizens in terms of criminality," Sánchez said in response to Musk's commentary, following his remarks at the event Wednesday by rebuking the man he referred to as "the richest man on the planet."
He pointed to Musk's recent perceived interference in Germany's upcoming snap elections, which are scheduled for February. Musk has written an op-ed in support of Alternative for Germany (AfD), an anti-immigration right-wing party that the German domestic intelligence agency has designated a "suspected extremist" group.
"You don't have to be of a particular ideology, left, center, or right, to look with sadness, with great sadness and also with terror, at the dark years of Franco's regime and fear that this regression will be repeated."
One candidate aligned with AfD said last year that Nazi paramilitaries under Adolf Hitler's regime were "not all criminals."
Musk, said the Spanish prime minister on Wednesday, "openly attacks our institutions, stirs up hatred, and openly calls for the support of the heirs of Nazism in Germany's upcoming elections."
"You don't have to be of a particular ideology, left, center, or right, to look with sadness, with great sadness and also with terror, at the dark years of Franco's regime and fear that this regression will be repeated," he said at the commemoration at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid. "Forgetting the mistakes of the past is the first step towards repeating them again."
Musk's recent commentary on Spain played on similar narratives to those he's recently pushed in the United Kingdom, attacking Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other Labour Party leaders for allegedly not being aggressive enough in prosecuting child sexual exploitation cases involving suspects who were originally from Pakistan.
Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have all spoken out against Musk's recent foray into European politics and accused him of spreading disinformation, with Scholz telling one media outlet, "Don't feed the troll."
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Wednesday called on the European Commission to protect its member states against political interference by Musk.
"Either the European Commission applies with the greatest firmness the laws that we have given ourselves to protect our public space, or it does not do so and then it will have to agree to give back the capacity to do so to the E.U. member states," Barrot told France Inter radio. "We have to wake up."
Members of European Parliament on Wednesday called on the European Commission to investigate whether the social media platform X, which Musk owns, can legally promote Musk's posts on the app under the E.U.'s Digital Services Act. Last year, the tech news site Platformer reported the X algorithm has been reconfigured to amplify Musk's comments.
The pressure from MEPs and recent comments from European leaders came as Musk prepared to host a livestream conversation with AfD leader Alice Weidel on X Thursday.
"I don't understand why people believe that free speech is not affected by the concentration of opinion-making power in the hands of the few," MEP Damian Boeselager of the pan-European Volt party, a candidate for the Bundestag in the German election, told The Guardian. "For me, that has rather illiberal, autocratic tendencies, rather than liberal tendencies, when one voice is so much more powerful than all the others."
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Spanish PM Urges NATO Leaders to Eschew 'Double Standards' on Gaza and Ukraine
"If we demand respect for international law in Ukraine, we must demand it in Gaza as well," asserted Pedro Sánchez.
Jul 11, 2024
While joining leaders of fellow NATO countries in voicing support for defending Ukraine from Russian aggression, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday implored Western nations to avoid "double standards" in the application of international law regarding Israel's war on Gaza.
Sánchez, a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party who has led his country since 2018, said during the NATO Public Forum in Washington, D.C. that Western leaders must have "consistent political positions" on Ukraine and Gaza.
"If we are telling our people that we are supporting Ukraine because we are defending the international law, this is the same that we have to do toward Gaza... say that we are backing the international law, especially the international humanitarian law," Sánchez said, drawing applause from the audience.
We cannot have double standards in our approach to Ukraine and Gaza - international law must be upheld in both situations, Prime Minister of Spain @sanchezcastejon said in his conversation with GMF Trustee Steve Biegun at the NATO Public Forum. pic.twitter.com/VdNa4laImY
— German Marshall Fund (@gmfus) July 10, 2024
"We need to create the conditions for an immediate and urgent cease-fire," the prime minister stressed. "There is a real risk of escalation to Lebanon."
Sánchez urged his fellow NATO leaders to do everything they can to "stop this terrible humanitarian crisis" in Gaza and called for an international conference for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
In late May, Spain, Norway, and Ireland formally recognized the state of Palestine, brushing off Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz's threat of "severe consequences" for the three nations. Earlier that month, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution supporting full U.N. membership for Palestine.
Nearly 150 of the world's 193 nations now officially recognize Palestinian statehood, with more considering the move amid what South Africa and dozens of other nations say is Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. Last month, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced that his country had applied to join the South African-led genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
As the ICJ determines whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, the tribunal has ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts in the embattled enclave, to "immediately halt" its offensive in Rafah, and to stop blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza in the face of worsening "famine and starvation."
Israel has been accused of flouting all three orders.
In November, Ione Belarra, then Spain's minister of social rights, called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. In May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said he is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including extermination and using starvation as a weapon of war. He is also pursuing arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders for alleged extermination, rape, and other crimes.
According to Palestinian and international agencies, Israel's nine-month bombardment, invasion, and siege of Gaza has left more than 137,500 Palestinians dead, injured, or missing. Around 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced. The majority of homes and other structures in the embattled strip are destroyed or damaged. Children are starving to death amid a severe shortage of food, water, and medical treatment.
Israel's war—which is a response to the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel that left more than 1,100 Israelis dead and over 240 people from Israel and other countries kidnapped—has sparked ongoing protests around the world, including in Spain.
In November, the city councilors in Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, voted to suspend relations with Israel in a resolution asserting that "no government can turn a blind eye to genocide."
Sánchez isn't the first political leader to call out the West's double standards on Gaza and Ukraine.
"Two years ago, when Americans across the country rallied to offer support and aid to Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, so did we," Abdullah Hammond, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan—home to the highest Muslim population per capita in the U.S.—wrote in a February New York Times guest opinion essay decrying the Biden administration's "unwavering" support for Israel.
"There are still blue and yellow flags fading against the facades of homes and businesses across my city," Hammond added. "But when Dearborn residents flew the Palestinian flag this past fall, they were met with threats."
On the world stage, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told European Union leaders at a March summit in Brussels that "the basic principle of international humanitarian law is the protection of civilians."
"We must stick to principles in Ukraine as in Gaza without double standards," he added.
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'We Must Fight Against Fascists': Protests Greet Far-Right Summit in Spain
"We are not going to allow them to take even one step back," one protester said as far-right political leaders set their sights on the European Union elections.
May 20, 2024
As European Union voters prepare for June elections, far-right leaders gathered in Madrid for a weekend rally hosted by Spain's Vox party—a gathering at the Palacio de Vistalegre that drew protests and warnings about their plans for the continent.
Rally speakers delivered "strong messages against illegal migration and the bloc's climate policy while declaring their support for Israel in its war against Hamas,"
according toThe Associated Press.
France 24reported that the audience at Europa Viva 24 "jeered at every mention of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the United Nations' 2030 Agenda, feminism, or socialism."
Participants included French National Rally party President Marine Le Pen, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Portuguese Chega party President André Ventura, with some joining by video.
"Dear Spanish friends, we patriots must occupy Brussels," Orbán claimed in a video message, according toEuractiv. He framed the upcoming elections as a "great common battle" against those who he said are "unleashing mass illegal migration" and "poisoning our children with gender propaganda."
Right-wing Argentine President Javier Milei traveled to Madrid for the event. During a speech, he suggested that Sánchez's wife is "corrupt," which led the Spanish government to recall its ambassador to Buenos Aires.
"Political freedom, prosperity, social cohesion based on fiscal redistribution, respect in public debate are pillars of the E.U.," declared Josep Borrell, a Spanish politician serving as the bloc's top diplomat. "Attacks against family members of political leaders have no place in our culture: We condemn and reject them, especially when coming from partners."
The Party of European Socialists Secretary General Giacomo Filibeck similarly condemned the "totally unacceptable attack by Milei on PM Pedro Sánchez and his family."
"Death and poverty—this is what fascism brings, as Spain knows all too well. That's why voters reject the far-right and embrace Pedro Sánchez and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party," Filibeck continued, also calling out Meloni and Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the Spanish People's Party. "We know where we stand for a democratic and respectful society, we can't be so sure about them."
As The Guardiandetailed:
Sánchez himself said Sunday's far-right summit was indicative of an "undercurrent" vehemently opposed to social justice which denies both science and women's rights.
"Why have all these people chosen Spain as the place to meet?" he said in a speech in Barcelona on Saturday. "It's no coincidence. They've chosen Spain because we, as a society—not as a government; as a society—represent everything that they hate and detest: feminism; social justice; dignified employment; a strong welfare state; and democracy."
"In democracy, as in life, forgiveness is far stronger than bitterness, coexistence is far stronger than confrontation, and union is far stronger than division."
Opponents who demonstrated against the far-right also took aim at Argentina's leader. One toldEuronews that fascism "is growing,'' and "with Milei's visit we are seeing the grouping of a lot of sectors of politicians and the business world, which is quite worrying and I think that has to raise the alarm a little."
Another demonstrator said, "Somehow, we have to go ahead and tell them that we are here and that all the rights we have achieved, we are not going to allow them to take even one step back."
Some critics—including Polish activist Frank Erbroder, who joined a protest against the conference in Madrid's city center—have compared the trajectory of Europe's current far-right movement to that of German Nazis under Adolf Hitler nearly a century ago.
"I am here because in Vistalegre we have a summit of hate and we must fight against fascists," Erbroder told the
AP. "I am worried because Hitler won because of democracy, and I think that maybe we'll have the same situation."
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