<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, did not wait until the end of the vote count to congratulate Republican Donald Trump on his victory in the US presidential election and to commit to continue working with him on “strategic bilateral relations” and on “a solid transatlantic partnership”.</strong></h4> “Congratulations to Donald Trump on your victory and your election as the 47th president of the United States,” Sánchez said through the social network X. “We will work on our strategic bilateral relations and on a strong transatlantic partnership,” he added. <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Exactly four years ago, Pedro Sánchez immediately sent a congratulatory message via his Twitter account to Democrat Joe Biden for his victory in the US presidential elections, which were seen by the Government as an opportunity to improve relations with the White House.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">During Trump's first term (2017-2021), contacts with Sánchez did not go beyond informal meetings or brief greetings at international events, such as the G20 or NATO summits.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">There were also no attempts from Moncloa to arrange an official trip by Sánchez to Washington.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">The distancing became more evident after the formation of the coalition government with Unidas Podemos.</span></span> For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, declared this Wednesday that "the North American citizens have voted democratically" and that, pending the final results, it can already be said that "Donald Trump's victory is clear". "The United States is a natural ally of Europe, fundamental in recent decades for Euro-Atlantic security and prosperity," Albares continued during an appearance before the press at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Plaza Marqués de Salamanca, in Madrid. "For Spain, the United States is the first destination for investments and the United States is the first investor in Spain outside the EU" and both countries maintain an "intense relationship as allies in NATO and through the Strategic Association" between the EU and the US, said Albares. The 2022 NATO Summit in Madrid and the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council in 2023 demonstrated that “when Europe and the United States work together, the prosperity and security of our citizens improve and deepen,” he said. Cooperation, he added, has made it possible to “face very serious crises in recent years.” “On that basis, we are going to focus our work with the new administration on the mutual benefit of our citizens and our two peoples,” he added. When asked by journalists why Sánchez congratulated Trump even before the count was closed, and in contrast to his decision not to do the same with the Argentine president, Javier Milei (despite the far-right ideological coincidences between the two), Albares simply responded that “leaders from other countries in the world and practically all European leaders have congratulated him more or less at the same time as the president of the Government” and that everything has happened, in this regard, “within the normality.” The minister also declined to comment on how economic and political relations between Spain and the US or the situation in places such as the Middle East or Ukraine may change with Trump's arrival at the White House. "The new US administration will take office on January 20, let's not get ahead of ourselves and wait for its first decisions," he limited himself to replying. <h5><strong>Feijoó and the vision of FAES</strong></h5> For his part, the leader of the PP, <strong>Alberto Núñez Feijóo</strong>, has also expressed his <strong>“sincere congratulations to Donald Trump</strong>, president-elect of the USA”. “We will work for a better bilateral relationship, with the EU and in NATO”, he added, through the same social network. However, an analysis by the<strong> FAES</strong> foundation, linked to the PP, and chaired by the former head of the Executive <strong>José María Aznar</strong>, considers that "<strong>it is not good news, neither for Spain nor for the European Union</strong> as a whole, nor for NATO, the success of the speech that Trump embodies: a populism seasoned with protectionist, isolationist approaches, and intemperate attitudes that at the time reached the open institutional challenge encouraging nothing more and nothing less than an assault on the Capitol". FAES also adds that Trump's victory "opens a very dark period for the expectations of victory or a reasonable solution in Ukraine" and there could be consequences on the commercial level if he fulfills his promise of more tariffs. <h5><strong>Díaz, Podemos, PSOE and Vox</strong></h5> Sumar, a minority partner in Sánchez's coalition government, has warned, through X, that "in the face of Trump's victory, Spain must continue to be an exception to this increasingly reactionary world." "To do this, we must continue to move forward: more rights, more social justice, more feminism, more democracy," it continues. "There is an alternative path: let's take care of it and move forward firmly," concludes. For her part, the second vice president and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, declared on the same social network that “Trump’s victory is bad news for all citizens who understand politics as a tool that improves our lives, not one that poisons them with hate and misinformation.” “We will not sit idly by: Europe urgently needs to secure its own voice and an autonomous place in the world. Hope means defending and expanding transformative policies that give people security and certainty in an increasingly fragile world,” she added. Estrella Galán, MEP and head of the Sumar list in the last European elections, has declared through X that "Trump's victory is sad news for people who defend democracy around the world." "It is time to take a step forward to build a Europe with its own voice, autonomous and at the service of social majorities, rights and peace," she adds. The secretary general of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has declared that “Trump returns to the White House and he does so not because of his own merits or the success of his lies, but fundamentally because of the failure of the progressive lesser evil.” “Reaction and fascism can only be stopped with firm and courageous advances,” she warns. In a similar sense, the spokesperson for the purple party, Pablo Fernández, believes that with the result of the American presidential elections “Trump’s hatred, hoaxes and lies win, which reveals that the policies of the lesser evil, the timid policies, the policies that buy money from the adversary pave the way for barbarism.” Criticism also came from senior PSOE officials who lamented Trump's victory. Thus, the deputy and LGTBI secretary in the Federal Executive of the PSOE, Víctor Gutiérrez, complained that Trump had been re-elected despite having been convicted by the courts and "being a sexual aggressor or giving name to a very specific way of doing politics based on lies, hoaxes and fake news". For his part, the secretary of Democratic Memory and Secularism, Manuel García Salgado, said in reference to Trump, in a message in English: "Enjoy the chosen psychopath and his dangerous band of hoax creators." And the member of the Executive and deputy for La Rioja, Elisa Garrido, reposted a message that refers to Trump as "a fascist without counterweights, without complexes and with nuclear weapons." “Congratulations to President Donald Trump!” declares the president of Vox, Santiago Abascal. “Today we must also celebrate the importance of the Hispanic vote in this victory of the free world,” he continues. “It is the time of the patriots. It is the time of freedom,” he concludes, through X. <h5><strong>The EU</strong></h5> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">The President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, has also congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the US presidential elections.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">In a statement, the president of the community executive has said that she will work with the Republican to “advance a strong transatlantic agenda”.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">The German leader reminds Trump that the United States and the European Union “are more than allies” and that they share “history, commitment to freedom and democracy”.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">She has also appealed to the “stability of the economic relationship” through a “transatlantic agreement”.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">“Millions of jobs and billions in trade and investment depend on the dynamism and stability of our economic relationship on both sides of the Atlantic”, she added.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, also congratulated “President-elect Donald Trump”, to whom he conveyed, through X, that “the EU and the US have a long-standing alliance and a historic bond” and that, “as allies and friends, the EU looks forward to continuing our constructive cooperation”.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">“The EU will continue its course in accordance with the strategic agenda as a strong, united, competitive and sovereign partner, while defending the rules-based multilateral system”, he warned.</span></span>
