this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2026
44 points (97.8% liked)

Europe

10606 readers
721 users here now

News and information from Europe 🇪🇺

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules (2024-08-30)

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media (incl. Substack). Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the primary mod account @EuroMod@feddit.org

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Cross posted from https://feddit.org/post/26961060

https://web.archive.org/web/20260311082826/https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/spain-accuses-germany-of-acting-like-a-vassal-to-united-states-f9zc28g8s

Spain has accused Germany’s leader of acting like a “vassal” of the United States after he failed to defend Madrid against criticism from President Trump.

“I can’t imagine Merkel or Scholz behaving like this,” Albares told the Cadena Ser radio station. “It corresponds neither to Konrad Adenauer nor to the European values on which this party [the CDU] was founded,” he said. “Now there’s a different leadership with different values.”

Yolanda Díaz, Spain’s deputy prime minister, said that Merz was one of several EU members “who have no idea how to manage this historic moment we’re living in”. She told Politico: “What Europe needs today is leadership, not vassals who pay homage to Trump.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Zombie@feddit.uk 11 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
[–] HowRu68@lemmy.world -2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

Well it's the pot calling the kettle black. Also since Spain pivot to China under Sanchez it's not really surprising;

"The newly adopted Spanish external action strategy portrays China in a rosy light and places it on the same level of importance as the US, reflecting the ripples of the Transatlantic rift under Trump 2.0"

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 6 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

places it on the same level of importance as the US

I'm not a fan of China, but it's clearly a better partner than the US under Trump. At the very least, China is predictable and there are very few countries who have to fear direct military actions from them.

[–] HowRu68@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

In this world diversification is key. I would prefer to avoid both regimes when possible, but that's not realistic.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Sure, it's not a binary choice. TBH I don't know much about Spain's China policy.

[–] HowRu68@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

I looked it up after reading the article, and the quote is from a CEIAS link