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
Experts & Staff
José Ignacio Torreblanca
Senior Adviser
Distinguished Policy Fellow
Areas of expertise
Technology and geopolitics, EU strategic autonomy; disinformation and influence operations
Languages
Spanish, English
Biography
Dr José Ignacio Torreblanca is a distinguished policy fellow at the geoeconomics and technology programme and senior adviser to the Madrid office at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He was the founding director of ECFR’s Madrid office, which he led from 2008 to 2025.
His work over recent years has focused on the geopolitics of technology, technological sovereignty, disinformation, and the relationship between technology and democracy. He is currently leading the research, policy and advocacy project “Defending the European Union from Technological Coercion”.
His recent publications on technology include “Technology and Connectivity” in The International Relations of the European Union (2026); “The Technological Awakening of the European Union” in Política Exterior (2026); “Defending EU Democracy and Sovereignty from the New Geopolitics of Technology” in CEBRI Journal (2025); “Connecting Regions, Closing Gaps, Building Sovereignty: The EU–Latin America and the Caribbean Digital Alliance” (2025); “The EU: A Force for (Digital) Good?” in Tech4Democracy (2023); “Social Networks and Democracy: Problems and Dilemmas of Regulating the Digital Ecosystem” in Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences (2023); “The US–EU Trade and Technology Council: State of Play, Issues and Challenges” (with Raquel Jorge, Esade EcPol, 2022); and “Europe’s Digital Sovereignty” (co-edited with Carla Hobbs, 2020).
He holds a PhD in political science from the Complutense University of Madrid and is a senior lecturer at UNED, where he teaches graduate and postgraduate courses on the EU (see full list of publications). He has been a Fulbright scholar at George Washington University, a postdoctoral fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, and senior policy fellow at Spain’s Elcano Royal Institute.
He has written a weekly column, Café Steiner, in El Mundo since 2018. Previously, he was opinion editor at El País, where he wrote a weekly column and blog for ten years. He was awarded the Salvador de Madariaga Prize for European Journalism in 2015.
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?
Foreign policy needs a rethink above and beyond Europe
At the end of June Spain reaches the end of its rotating presidency of the EU. Spain’s economic woes and the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty have made it a difficult presidency to handle. But there’s more at stake: the decreasing influence of the EU on the international stage puts Spain in a difficult position. Should it move away from Europe, and if yes, how?
Russia is shifting
The EU-Russia summit in Rostov is an opportunity for the new EU to show it can act effectively on the international stage. But only if it first tries to understand what Russia’s motives are and where it can help
Hardware & software
Spain seriously needs to review its priorities in public expenditure, and its attitudes toward education. Otherwise it will go on being that country which a former German foreign minister called “a beautiful country, full of four lane divided highways with no cars on them.”
Do an Obama
The present type of EU summit with international actors ought to change, otherwise we will be perpetuating a type of encounter that is closer to circus than to diplomacy, and where it is hard to tell who are the lions and who are the tamers
Europe without Europeans
Of all the problems facing Europe, one seems very difficult to solve: demographic forecasts, added to political ones, point to a Europe without Europeans
Holes in the cheese
Nuclear crises require a lot of unlikely events to occur at once, like all the holes in slices of Gruy?re cheese lining up. But as the nuclear ambitions of the Iranian president remind us, that is not a reason to ignore the perils of atomic weapons
Downfall
Volcanoes, Greek tragedy and government collapses. Divine intervention? Not entirely – greed and stupidity play a big part
Publications
Mitigate, deter, escalate: Europe’s options against US economic coercion
The US under Trump will seek new ways to coerce Europe economically. Here is how Europeans can resist the pressure and emerge stronger for it
From shield to sword: Europe’s offensive strategy for the hybrid age
Europe’s defensive measures to shield its democracies from hybrid attacks are no longer enough. If Europeans want to protect their peace and prosperity, the time has come for them to fight back
Brazil: Europe’s bridge to the global south
Brazil and Europe share many similarities: both seek autonomy amid escalating US-China tensions – while championing multilateralism and navigating democratic pressures for a values-based foreign policy. However, their potential for collaboration remains largely untapped
Control-Alt-Deliver: A digital grand strategy for the European Union
The EU is falling behind the US and China in the digital realm. It urgently needs a new agenda combining innovation, security, and influence for an age of geopoliticised technology
Strategic interdependence: Europe’s new approach in a world of middle powers
Middle powers are shaping a fragmented world for which Europe is ill prepared. To protect its interests and values, the EU needs a foreign policy strategy that emphasises its wide range of interdependencies
Byting back: The EU’s digital alliance with Latin America and the Caribbean
The EU can counter Chinese and Russian influence through a digital alliance with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean
The geopolitics of technology: How the EU can become a global player
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
Geo-tech politics: Why technology shapes European power
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
Europe’s digital sovereignty: From rulemaker to superpower in the age of US-China rivalry
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
Health sovereignty: How to build a resilient European response to pandemics
Europe must improve its early warning systems, supply chain resilience, medical R&D, and cyber security and technology, to act decisively in future emergencies
Articles
Musk’s war on European democracy: How to open up X and fight back
The EU should apply two remedies to address political interference via X
Trump vs Sanchez: Why Europeans should back Spain against US threats
The US has threatened Spain with a trade embargo for refusing it access to Spanish military bases. European leaders should use this moment to show they are capable of not bowing to Washington when it is against their interests
Five steps to stop Greenland’s annexation destroying the EU
The US president is hell-bent on owning Greenland. Annexation could destroy not only NATO but the EU, if European leaders do not resolutely act
Thrown under the omnibus: How the EU’s digital deregulation fuels US coercion
The EU has proposed simplifying and softening its digital regulation. This will only make the bloc more vulnerable to the coercion of America’s big tech firms
Big tech, Donald Trump, and “techno-imperialism”: How Europe can avoid becoming a digital colony
US tech giants are preparing to test the EU’s resolve, emboldened by support from the Trump administration. The EU will need to prepare itself for the inevitable clash to safeguard its democratic and technological future
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
Innovate, protect, and influence: The EU’s technology trilemma and how to solve it
As technological competition between the US and China grows, the EU’s next technology agenda needs to be more assertive to maximise its global influence
Critical material: The EU’s and Chile’s new relationship in the multipolar world
The EU’s and Chile’s enhanced association agreement will strengthen Europeans’ place in the “à la carte” world. The bloc should continue to tackle its dependencies and build mutually beneficial relations with countries across the globe
Onwards and outwards: Why the EU needs to move from strategic autonomy to strategic interdependence
Strategic autonomy is a defensive strategy that sends the wrong message to the world. The EU should instead accept that interdependencies are not only inevitable but desirable, and cultivate them with its allies and partners
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
Podcasts
Trump attacks Venezuela
Mark Leonard welcomes Jeremy Shapiro and Nacho Torreblanca to discuss what Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro means for the world
Europe vs. Trump: Deterrence or escalation?
Mark Leonard welcomes Tobias Gehrke and José Ignacio Torreblanca to explore Europe’s leverage against Donald Trump’s economic and technological coercion
Trump’s shadow: Reshaping politics and policy across Europe
Mark Leonard welcomes ECFR experts to unpack how Donald Trump’s presidency is reshaping Europe’s domestic politics and foreign policy
Europe confronts Trump: the politics of transatlantic relations
Mark Leonard welcomes Camille Lons, Marta Prochwicz Jazowska, Jana Puglierin, José Ignacio Torreblanca and Arturo Varvelli to discuss how European capitals are responding to Trump’s dramatic return to the White House
Brazil’s role in a changing world order
Mark Leonard welcomes José Ignacio Torreblanca and Pawel Zerka to discuss Brazil’s role in a changing world order
Europe is shifting: EU election results could divide Europe
In this new episode, Vessela Tcherneva welcomes head of ECFR offices to discuss national implications of the EU elections
The European pulse: the election and beyond
Mark Leonard welcomes Célia Belin, Piotr Buras, Jana Puglierin, Maria Simeonova, José Ignacio Torreblanca, and Arturo Varvelli to discuss the European Parliament elections and the future of European politics
Spain and Poland at the ballot box: what’s next for Europe?
Mark Leonard welcomes José Ignacio Torreblanca and Piotr Buras to discuss recent developments in Spanish and Polish politics and their impact on Europe
The future of European politics
Mark Leonard welcomes the heads of ECFR’s national offices to discuss key players outside the traditional halls of European power
The geopolitics of technology
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?
Events
European Power
Warsaw European Conversation 2026
Polityka Insight and ECFR Warsaw invite you to join us for the livestream of this year’s Warsaw European Conversation. When Europe was planning its 2021–2027 budget back in 2019, hardly anyone had heard of COVID-19, few could have imagined a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine, and Donald Trump was defending himself against…
European Power
Soberanía tecnológica europea: valores humanos y retos geopolíticos
Un diálogo del European Council on Foreign Relations y Aspen Institute España. Los ponentes abordaron la tensión existente entre la simplificación normativa y la desregulación, la capacidad de la Unión Europea para exportar sus estándares regulatorios más allá de sus fronteras, los instrumentos jurídicos y estratégicos disponibles para hacer frente al poder…
European Power
Think7 handover ceremony from Canada to France
The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and the Paris-based Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) will co-chair the Think7 (T7) in 2026. The T7 is the official engagement group of the G7 for global think tanks and research centres. It aims at building a bridge between research and policymaking in a…
27
May
Conectando regiones, cerrando brechas, construyendo soberanías: La UE y América Latina-Caribe en el nuevo contexto internacional
El European Council on Foreign Relations, en colaboración con la Fundación Carolina, organizó un debate público el pasado martes, 27 de mayo de 16:30 a 18:30 h CEST en la Sala Cervantes de Casa de América para presentar el informe “Conectando regiones, cerrando brechas, construyendo soberanía: La Alianza Digital UE-ALC. Recomendaciones de cara a la Cumbre UE-CELAC”. En un contexto marcado por la creciente confrontación…
European Power
Samba Steps: Understanding Brazil’s global role and what it means for Europe
As global power dynamics shift amid intensifying US-China rivalry, the rise of assertive middle powers, and increased scepticism toward the international rules-based order, Europe finds itself navigating new challenges in securing its global position. To avoid being drawn into a new Cold War dynamic, Europe must seek partnerships with emerging powers, especially those shaping…
20
Jul
European Power
La Cumbre UE-CELAC y la Presidencia Española: Próximos pasos
El 20 de julio ECFR celebró una reunión virtual a puerta cerrada para intercambiar perspectivas sobre los resultados alcanzados en la Cumbre UE-CELAC del 17-18 julio y la posterior hoja de ruta durante la Presidencia española del Consejo de la UE
28
Oct
European Power
Debate público sobre la Alianza Digital entre la Unión Europea y América Latina y el Caribe
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 se comprometieron a lanzar en 2022 una Alianza Digital para fomentar una digitalización articulada en torno a los valores humanistas que ambas regiones comparten. Esta Alianza Digital, que también…
European Power
The birth of geopolitical Europe: In conversation with Josep Borrell
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
22
Mar
La Hora de la Sociedad Civil: Un Diálogo Transatlántico sobre Venezuela
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 Council on Foreign Relations. Tuvo como objetivo escuchar las perspectivas de la sociedad civil venezolana sobre como Estados Unidos, la UE y otros actores internacionales se deben coordinen para…
Asia
The EU and Japan: Strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific
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
In the media
Will Brown, Jana Kobzova, Nicu Popescu and José Ignacio Torreblanca on responding to Russian sabotage and subversion
A call for Ireland to opt out of work on the digital and fiscal dossiers during its EU Presidency
Agathe Demarais, Tobias Gehrke, José Ignacio Torreblanca on Europe’s options against US economic coercion
Agathe Demarais, Tobias Gehrke, and José Ignacio Torreblanca on how Trump’s US could use economic, energy, and technological leverage to put pressure on Europe
José Ignacio Torreblanca on increasing Anti-American sentiments in Spain