Experts & Staff
José Ignacio Torreblanca

José Ignacio Torreblanca

Head, ECFR Madrid
Senior Policy Fellow

Areas of expertise

Technology and geopolitics, EU strategic autonomy; disinformation and influence operations

Languages

Spanish, English

Biography

Dr José Ignacio Torreblanca is the head of the Madrid office and senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

He holds a PhD in political science from the Complutense University of Madrid and is a senior lecturer at the National Distance Education University in Madrid where he teaches graduate and postgraduate courses on the European Union. He was a Fulbright Scholar at George Washington University in Washington DC and a postdoctoral fellow at the European University Institute in Florence.

As an expert on disinformation, he has worked with Spain’s National Security Directorate Taskforce on Disinformation Campaigns at the prime minister’s office and submitted evidence on disinformation and foreign interference in the Joint Congress-Senate National Security Committee of the Spanish parliament.

He runs a weekly column in El Mundo called “Café Steiner” and is a weekly contributor on Spanish National Public Radio. Prior to joining ECFR, Torreblanca was the editorial director of El Pais where he authored a weekly column and a blog for 10 years.

His writing on EU politics and EU foreign policy has been published widely, including a 2001 book on eastern enlargement, The Reuniting of Europe: Promises, Negotiations and Compromises, one on the EU and the 2008-2011 financial crisis, ¿Quién gobierna en Europa?: reconstruir la democracia, recuperar a la ciudadanía?, and another in 2011 on EU foreign and security policy, La fragmentación del poder europeo. He has also published on the politics of populism, including a book on the rise of Podemos party in Spain in 2015, Asaltar los cielos: Podemos o la política después de la crisis, and the rise of the Spanish far-right in 2019, ¿Ha llegado Vox para quedarse?: la sorpresa Vox.

In his latest work, he has concentrated on the geopolitics of technology, where he has led various research projects focusing on EU external digital policies, including the EU-Latin America and the Caribbean Digital Alliance. In 2020, he published a book with Carla Hobbs on Europe’s digital sovereignty, La soberanía digital de Europa, and in 2023 published a journal article on “Social networks and democracy: problems and dilemmas of regulating the digital ecosystem”.

Dear (new) foreign minister…

Spain has a new minister of foreign affairs – Trinidad Jimenez. So what are the priorities? Firstly, to restore international confidence in Spain, but then to think of the long term challenges in a world that is changing quickly

A reed in the wind

Europe’s pathetic reaction to Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel peace prize showed an urge by EU leaders to not only render themselves internationally irrelevant, but also a determination to cover the EU itself in ridicule. Europe must decide whether it wants to play a role in the new world order, or bend like reeds in whichever direction the wind is blowing

Afghanistan: Let me count the wars…

Waging even one war and winning it is complicated enough. Not to mention waging three different wars and winning them. This is what faces the international forces in Afghanistan. (In English and Spanish)

Strategic weaknesses – at home and abroad

The EU is finally looking for coherent ways to organise itself as a powerful actor on the world stage. This is necessary in a multi-polar world of rising powers – but Europe needs to remember that dealing with its challenges at home is a prerequisite for being taken seriously abroad

Embryo states

Everyone’s talking about the BRICs. But we shouldn’t forget about the territories trying to become states. Kosovo, Palestine, Taiwan and East Timor: they’re all looking for our attention, and in some cases make better ‘states’ that the recognised ones

PIGS can fly

Spain's footballing triumph at the World Cup came as a welcome distraction for the Spanish people. Their economy is a shambles; their politicians are struggling to do their jobs; and the Spanish presidency of the EU badly damaged their international reputation. But at least Spain's football team offer lessons as well as hope

The BRIC bloc

The Political West (the US, Europe and Japan) are in the doldrums while the BRICs keep growing. A third of world economic growth in the last decade has taken place in BRIC countries. So far, so good for the BRICs. But what next?

Farewell, presidencies

Spain’s EU presidency fell far short of expectations, but it was handed a presidency without precedent. One thing is certain: a foreign relations system based on holding summits without content has no future at all

Rain prayer

The common position on Cuba is so anomalous and exceptional that, rather than providing an example of European sponsorship of human rights, what it exemplifies are glaring contradictions in European policy

A glass half full

The Western Balkans are taking steps towards reconciliation, but there is still a long way to go. At the current rate of progress the chances of these countries joining the EU by 2020, as some hope, are slim. Is the glass half full, half empty – or simply too big for Balkan leaders to fill?

Publications

Articles

Glitch in the matrix: How Europeans should respond to the Trump-Musk tech agenda

Elon Musk and Donald Trump are setting out America’s new approach to digital technology—including social media and AI. The EU must understand their motivations and work with willing partners to curb negative influence in the global digital sphere

Showdown: What to expect from Spain’s general election

While Spain’s People’s Party leads the polls, obscure alliances and voter concerns leave the country’s future direction – and its impact on next year’s European Parliament elections – uncertain

Ukraine one year on: When tech companies go to war

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

Podcasts

Events

In the media