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”.

Iron diplomacy

How is it that Spain, a country that has recently known a long dictatorship, is so insensitive to activists for democracy and human rights in other countries?

Reflecting for action

What will Europe’s leaders do with the reflection group’s report, which aims to be straight talking, concise and legible, when Felipe Gonz?lez delivers next year?

Diplosaurs

Europe’s Foreign Ministers must do all they can to help the new High Representative if the EU is to enjoy a fully functional foreign policy

Cold feet in a Turkish bath

Nobody wants to admit it, but Turkish accession negotiations are dead in the water

Heroines and graves

In contrast to the Nobel Peace Prize given to Obama, the EP has acted soundly in giving the Sakharov Prize to Memorial

Troika, trio, treat, trick

After the elections for Commission president, we are now drowned in the gibberish of the Council of Europe president elections

Clear as mud

The prospect of a Conservative government in the UK will be just the latest in a long line of challenges for the European project

A toss of the coin

As the world tries to deal with a rebellius Iran, Europe keeps on discussing internally. A ?yes? in Ireland would put an end to this

Completing Europe

We have to find a way to end our internal divisions and restore our leadership

No easy solution for hunger

African farmers need seeds and fertilizers – and Governments that work

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