Head, ECFR Madrid
Senior Policy Fellow
Technology and geopolitics, EU strategic autonomy; disinformation and influence operations
Spanish, English
José Ignacio Torreblanca is a senior policy fellow and head of the Madrid office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a position he has held since the launch of ECFR across Europe in 2007. Torreblanca is also Professor of Political Science at Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) in Madrid.
He is a weekly columnist in EL MUNDO as author of the blog “Café Steiner” and a weekly contributor on RNE (Spanish National Radio) and RTVE. Previously, he was Editorial Director of EL PAIS where he also authored a weekly column in the International Section and a blog.
Torreblanca holds a PhD in Political Science from the Complutense University of Madrid.
If the Global Gateway is to compete with the Belt and Road Initiative, it must go big, green, digital, and ethical. And it can prove it in Latin America
Mark Leonard welcomes the heads of ECFR’s national offices to discuss key players outside the traditional halls of European power
The war in Ukraine has reinforced the strategic role of global tech giants in defence and security policy. NATO and the EU should learn from this as they try to deter future aggressors
ChatGPT seems set to shake up the technology industry, but its implications for geopolitics are less clear. We asked ChatGPT what these might be
The EU can counter Chinese and Russian influence through a digital alliance with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean
En su reunión (virtual) del 2 de diciembre de 2021, los jefes de Estado y de Gobierno de la UE y América Latina y el Caribe…
The digital space is a key battleground in today’s global power struggles. For the EU to become a global player in the geopolitics of technology, it needs an ambitious external digital strategy – one that allows it to secure its interests, values, and standing in a world of intensifying geo-technological competition.
A new compact could allow Ukraine, Balkans states and others to move closer to the EU and drive reform more powerfully than the current rigid rules
Este debate fue una iniciativa del Foro Cívico, de la Oficina en Washington para Asuntos Latinoamericanos (WOLA), el Open Society Foundations (OSF) y el European…
The new European security order should be based on Ukraine’s security, not Russia’s. This will require Ukraine to join NATO and the EU.
The EU can counter Chinese and Russian influence through a digital alliance with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean
The digital space is a key battleground in today’s global power struggles. For the EU to become a global player in the geopolitics of technology, it needs an ambitious external digital strategy – one that allows it to secure its interests, values, and standing in a world of intensifying geo-technological competition.
New technologies are a significant force shaping international relations. If the EU wants to be more than a mediator between the US and China, it will need to change its mindset.
The EU cannot continue to rely on its regulatory power but must become a tech superpower in its own right. Referees do not win the game.
Europe must improve its early warning systems, supply chain resilience, medical R&D, and cyber security and technology, to act decisively in future emergencies
A new survey shows that, after the onset of the covid-19 crisis, there has been a rise in public support for unified EU action to tackle global threats
Spain, and Europe, need a new story about migration – it remains to be seen how the country will put this into practice
The results of the European election confront EU leaders with a considerable challenge: navigating a new, more fragmented, and polarised political environment
Pro-Europeans should create space for battles between competing visions of Europe
Europeans are losing faith in the EU
If the Global Gateway is to compete with the Belt and Road Initiative, it must go big, green, digital, and ethical. And it can prove it in Latin America
The war in Ukraine has reinforced the strategic role of global tech giants in defence and security policy. NATO and the EU should learn from this as they try to deter future aggressors
ChatGPT seems set to shake up the technology industry, but its implications for geopolitics are less clear. We asked ChatGPT what these might be
A new compact could allow Ukraine, Balkans states and others to move closer to the EU and drive reform more powerfully than the current rigid rules
The new European security order should be based on Ukraine’s security, not Russia’s. This will require Ukraine to join NATO and the EU.
The conflict in Ukraine will change Europe forever. Experts from across ECFR’s network of offices describe the view of the war from Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Sofia, and Warsaw.
The EU cannot play a direct military role in Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine. But, through its support for Ukraine in the digital realm, the union can establish itself as a leader in global tech geopolitics.
By weaponising migration in Ceuta to advance its Western Sahara claim, Morocco has made several major mistakes. Spain is part of an EU that is not in a joking mood on irregular migration blackmail.
The UK appears to have gone full circle in its approach to the rest of the world – and to have found no answers along the way
In an interview with the head of ECFR’s Madrid office, the Spanish foreign minister discusses how her country is adapting to the global challenges of the twenty-first century
Mark Leonard welcomes the heads of ECFR’s national offices to discuss key players outside the traditional halls of European power
The EU is often described as a “regulatory superpower” benefitting from the so-called “Brussels effect.” But is the bloc also able to set its own rules and standards when it comes to new technologies?
What is the Western Sahara conflict is all about, and how will the most recent developments between Morocco and Spain influence this conflict?
What lessons can be drawn from Josep Borrell’s controversial visit to Moscow?
Head of ECFR’s Madrid Office, Jose Ignacio Torreblanca talks to the American historian, a Pulitzer Prize winner for Gulag, and expert on authoritarian populism about…
How much impact does the future US president have on the very concept of European sovereignty? Will the idea and initiatives to build more strategic autonomy in Europe be put back to bed with Joe Biden in the White House?
Europe’s digital transformation and sovereignty has become a question of existential importance. But what does it actually mean to be digital sovereign? Host Mark Leonard…
The over 90-hour European Council summit in Brussels ended with a deal on a €1.82 trillion financial package. What does…
The coronavirus crisis brought about financial hardship for the European Union, and many agree that a recovery fund would be needed to overcome it. In…
The EU members states have been caught up in a heated discussion on possible European ‘coronabonds’, a joint debt assistance by the Union to help…
En su reunión (virtual) del 2 de diciembre de 2021, los jefes de Estado y de Gobierno de la UE y América Latina y el Caribe…
With the EU’s High Representative as our honoured guest, the panel will explore the birth of a geopolitical Europe and the new dimensions of European power with a focus on the tech, economic, and security terrains
Este debate fue una iniciativa del Foro Cívico, de la Oficina en Washington para Asuntos Latinoamericanos (WOLA), el Open Society Foundations (OSF) y el European…
In collaboration with the Embassy of Japan in Madrid, ECFR has organised a public virtual debate to explore how the EU and the Indo-Pacific can build a strategic alliance and how the EU-Japan relationship can drive this process
Esta es la primera reunión de nuestra iniciativa en ECFR diseñada para acompañar a las negociaciones oficiales del Consejo de Comercio y Tecnología (TTC) entre…
Con motivo de la escalada de tensión en las relaciones bilaterales entre España y Marruecos, y ante la previsible duración de la presente crisis, ECFR…
No hay aspiraciones colectivas sin inspiración, ni futuro sin memoria. Seguir construyendo Europa sobre relaciones de confianza es hoy más necesario que nunca.
Sánchez might think that he can capitalise on the weakness of two leftist parties to attract votes from them and fortify his own position among progressives
José Ignacio Torreblanca’s analysis on Spanish Prime Minister’s gamble on snap general election
The People’s Party is a classic center-right party and is very pro-European, so in some instances it might work better with Macron and Scholz than with Meloni
José Ignacio Torreblanca explains how the results of the upcoming elections in Spain, with a likely victory for the People’s Party, might affect European politics
Russia and China have rolled out the red carpet for South American leaders, feeding the region with billions of euros in investment
Carla Hobbs and José Ignacio Torreblanca comment on the presence of Russia and China in Latin America and the Caribbean
Let’s be realistic about the challenges posed by the fragmentation of politics in the United States
Domestic politics in partner countries could hinder progress in international tech cooperation, noted José Ignacio Torreblanca
The current context justifies the idea that the TTC should focus on technology’s global governance to counter the misuse of digital technologies by authoritarian governments
José Ignacio Torreblanca explains the importance for Europe and the US to work together to set democratic and rule-based standards within the Trade and Technology Council (Ttc) meeting, held on 15 and 16 May 2022 in Paris.
