It's become a joke - through gritted teeth - these days in EU circles, that whenever leaders meet, as they did these last two days in Cyprus - expecting to discuss practicalities, such as the new EU budget - they get railroaded by yet another crisis.
There is the ongoing energy crisis provoked by the US-Israel war on Iran, Russia's aggression in neighbouring Ukraine, now in its fifth year. And this Friday morning, souring relations between Europe and the United States, along with a potentially devastating defence impact, reared its Medusa-like head. Again.
No worries, Spain's determined-to-appear-calm Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said to waiting journalists as he arrived at the leaders' summit. We are fulfilling our obligations toward Nato.
What did he feel compelled to say he wasn't fretting about?
An email, originating from the US Pentagon and first reported by Reuters on Friday had leaked, suggesting measures for the US to punish allies it believed had failed to support the US-Israel campaign against Iran. The email said the US could seek to suspend Spain from Nato over its stance.
There is actually no provision in the Nato treaties to expel a member country. And any action to bar Spain from filling key civilian or military roles in Nato, also alluded to in the email as possible punitive action, would have to be taken unanimously amongst all Nato members.
Fellow EU leaders at the Cyprus summit, who are also in Nato, leapt to Spain's defence. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said he wanted to be crystal clear that Spain was and would remain a full Nato member. He said European countries were currently doing a great deal to strengthen Nato. That, he said, was also in America's interest.
A high-ranking German official said: Spain is a member of Nato. And I see no reason why that should change.
While Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – who was once seen as so close to Donald Trump so as to be viewed as a Trump whisperer or go-between between Europe and an increasingly irritated, or seemingly irritable, US – criticised the tensions between Washington and Madrid as not at all positive.
Growing public opinion in Italy as across Europe has turned against Donald Trump. Meloni feels forced to take a stance against her erstwhile best buddy, drawing his ire at Rome too. The Italian prime minister has denied the US permission to use the Sigonella airbase in Sicily for military operations against Iran. As the head of government of a country that considers itself culturally Catholic, she also described Donald Trump's recent derogatory remarks about the Pope as unacceptable. The US president, who previously considered Meloni one of the real leaders of the world, lashed out and told an Italian newspaper that she's the one who's unacceptable and no longer the same person.
The leaked Pentagon email also suggested a possible potshot at former special ally, and fellow Nato member, the United Kingdom – reviewing the US position on the UK's claim to the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic, which are also claimed by Argentina.
Donald Trump has remained furious with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer ever since he initially denied a request to use British military bases ahead of launching attacks on Iran in February.
Sanchez was outspoken in his opposition to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran from the get-go, describing them as illegal under international law. He immediately denied US forces permission to use joint US-Spanish military bases in Spain for operations against Iran. This led to threats (not as yet enacted upon) of trade sanctions from Trump.
Spain has been dismissive of the leaked Pentagon email. Sanchez commented that We do not work based on emails. We work with official documents and official positions taken, in this case, by the government of the United States.
The mail betrays a fundamental misunderstanding in the Trump administration about what Nato does and what Nato is, says Camille Grande, the former Nato assistant secretary-general for Defence Investment and current secretary-general of ASD Europe (Aerospace, Security, and Defence Industries Association for Europe).
Are Europeans sufficiently aligned with the US, according to Trump's tastes? That is the wrong question for Washington to be asking, according to Grande. The defence alliance is based on consensus, not run by the United States.
Grande compares Trump to a landlord seeking to expel tenants from his building if they don't pay sufficient rent in his opinion. But Nato is not Trump's building, he emphasises.
Even more damningly, French President Emmanuel Macron has accused Trump of hollowing out Nato by repeatedly undermining the alliance in public.
These public displays of disunity are corrosive and potentially deeply damaging in defence terms for Europe. Countries in the east of the continent feel threatened by an expansionist Russia. Its war economy is being buoyed by cash Moscow is hoovering up as a result of being able to export oil at a high price worldwide now, thanks to the energy crisis provoked by Iran's effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – and the US counter-blockade.
Nato reckons Russia would be ready to attack a Nato nation in three years' time. The Dutch military intelligence service MIVD noted this week that in its assessment, after the war against Ukraine ends, Moscow would be ready to initiate a regional conflict against Nato within the year.
The Russian objective of such a conflict would not be to defeat Nato militarily, but to politically divide Nato through limited territorial gains. If necessary, under the threat of nuclear armament, said MIVD in its annual report.
Late last year, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed to suggest the Trump administration was essentially dividing up its allies into good guys and bad guys.
In his address to the Reagan National Defense Forum on 6 December, Hegseth said: Model allies that step up like Israel, South Korea, Poland, increasingly Germany, the Baltics and others will receive our special favour. Allies that do not, allies that still fail to do their part for collective defence will face consequences.
The president is obviously upset by Europeans that failed to fully support the US war in Iran. But punitive measures like removing force posture in Spain seem over-reactive in light of the fact that allies were never asked to assist the US and Trump has frequently denied that the US actually needed European support.\
There is the ongoing energy crisis provoked by the US-Israel war on Iran, Russia's aggression in neighbouring Ukraine, now in its fifth year. And this Friday morning, souring relations between Europe and the United States, along with a potentially devastating defence impact, reared its Medusa-like head. Again.
No worries, Spain's determined-to-appear-calm Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said to waiting journalists as he arrived at the leaders' summit. We are fulfilling our obligations toward Nato.
What did he feel compelled to say he wasn't fretting about?
An email, originating from the US Pentagon and first reported by Reuters on Friday had leaked, suggesting measures for the US to punish allies it believed had failed to support the US-Israel campaign against Iran. The email said the US could seek to suspend Spain from Nato over its stance.
There is actually no provision in the Nato treaties to expel a member country. And any action to bar Spain from filling key civilian or military roles in Nato, also alluded to in the email as possible punitive action, would have to be taken unanimously amongst all Nato members.
Fellow EU leaders at the Cyprus summit, who are also in Nato, leapt to Spain's defence. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said he wanted to be crystal clear that Spain was and would remain a full Nato member. He said European countries were currently doing a great deal to strengthen Nato. That, he said, was also in America's interest.
A high-ranking German official said: Spain is a member of Nato. And I see no reason why that should change.
While Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – who was once seen as so close to Donald Trump so as to be viewed as a Trump whisperer or go-between between Europe and an increasingly irritated, or seemingly irritable, US – criticised the tensions between Washington and Madrid as not at all positive.
Growing public opinion in Italy as across Europe has turned against Donald Trump. Meloni feels forced to take a stance against her erstwhile best buddy, drawing his ire at Rome too. The Italian prime minister has denied the US permission to use the Sigonella airbase in Sicily for military operations against Iran. As the head of government of a country that considers itself culturally Catholic, she also described Donald Trump's recent derogatory remarks about the Pope as unacceptable. The US president, who previously considered Meloni one of the real leaders of the world, lashed out and told an Italian newspaper that she's the one who's unacceptable and no longer the same person.
The leaked Pentagon email also suggested a possible potshot at former special ally, and fellow Nato member, the United Kingdom – reviewing the US position on the UK's claim to the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic, which are also claimed by Argentina.
Donald Trump has remained furious with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer ever since he initially denied a request to use British military bases ahead of launching attacks on Iran in February.
Sanchez was outspoken in his opposition to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran from the get-go, describing them as illegal under international law. He immediately denied US forces permission to use joint US-Spanish military bases in Spain for operations against Iran. This led to threats (not as yet enacted upon) of trade sanctions from Trump.
Spain has been dismissive of the leaked Pentagon email. Sanchez commented that We do not work based on emails. We work with official documents and official positions taken, in this case, by the government of the United States.
The mail betrays a fundamental misunderstanding in the Trump administration about what Nato does and what Nato is, says Camille Grande, the former Nato assistant secretary-general for Defence Investment and current secretary-general of ASD Europe (Aerospace, Security, and Defence Industries Association for Europe).
Are Europeans sufficiently aligned with the US, according to Trump's tastes? That is the wrong question for Washington to be asking, according to Grande. The defence alliance is based on consensus, not run by the United States.
Grande compares Trump to a landlord seeking to expel tenants from his building if they don't pay sufficient rent in his opinion. But Nato is not Trump's building, he emphasises.
Even more damningly, French President Emmanuel Macron has accused Trump of hollowing out Nato by repeatedly undermining the alliance in public.
These public displays of disunity are corrosive and potentially deeply damaging in defence terms for Europe. Countries in the east of the continent feel threatened by an expansionist Russia. Its war economy is being buoyed by cash Moscow is hoovering up as a result of being able to export oil at a high price worldwide now, thanks to the energy crisis provoked by Iran's effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – and the US counter-blockade.
Nato reckons Russia would be ready to attack a Nato nation in three years' time. The Dutch military intelligence service MIVD noted this week that in its assessment, after the war against Ukraine ends, Moscow would be ready to initiate a regional conflict against Nato within the year.
The Russian objective of such a conflict would not be to defeat Nato militarily, but to politically divide Nato through limited territorial gains. If necessary, under the threat of nuclear armament, said MIVD in its annual report.
Late last year, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed to suggest the Trump administration was essentially dividing up its allies into good guys and bad guys.
In his address to the Reagan National Defense Forum on 6 December, Hegseth said: Model allies that step up like Israel, South Korea, Poland, increasingly Germany, the Baltics and others will receive our special favour. Allies that do not, allies that still fail to do their part for collective defence will face consequences.
The president is obviously upset by Europeans that failed to fully support the US war in Iran. But punitive measures like removing force posture in Spain seem over-reactive in light of the fact that allies were never asked to assist the US and Trump has frequently denied that the US actually needed European support.\
