As he warned that the US risked triggering a spiral of war with its “illegal” attack on Iran, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also delivered a pointed rebuke to Donald Trump that no other European leader would dare to make.
Arguing that politicians should make people’s lives better, Sánchez said: “It is absolutely unacceptable that those leaders who are incapable of fulfilling that duty use the smoke of war to hide their failures and, in the process, line the pockets of a few — the only ones who win when the world stops building hospitals to start making missiles.”
It was the kind of jibe — an allusion to plutocracy and inequality — rarely heard so explicitly from an EU leader. Some have tried to appeal to Trump’s vanity and personal interests, whether through state visits, gilded gifts or golfing contests. Others have tried ideological mimicry or simply played down their obvious disagreements.