<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Former Foreign Minister and former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell warned Wednesday that Europe should face the "uncomfortable reality" that it can no longer count on the United States for security and defense and, therefore, should address the creation of "a European pillar within NATO or a European military alliance," because "military capabilities are more than just the production of weapons."</strong></h4> Josep Borrell spoke these words during the ceremony to join the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences as a full member, which took place at the institution's headquarters in Madrid and was presided over by King Felipe VI. Borrell was elected as an academic on March 19, 2024, to fill the position left vacant by the death of Alejandro Nieto, one of the most prominent figures in the field of Administrative Law and research in Spain. “In my exam at the European Parliament, when I ran for Vice President of the European Commission, I said that Europe must learn to speak the language of power, and every time I've been asked if Europe had already learned to use the language of power, the answer is no,” Borrell stated in his speech, entitled “The European Union, between wars and elections, facing the harshness of the world.” “Unfortunately, we are still a long way from having learned it,” he lamented. “When we have power, that is, we have the ability to influence and condition the behavior of others, because that is what having power is, we don't use it because we are deeply divided,” he added. According to the former minister and former European vice president, “Europe should be able to cope with the enormous disruption created by President Trump,” because “let's not fool ourselves: Trump is not an accident of history; if anything, it would be the second time we stumble over the same stone.” “Nor is this a passing phenomenon, but rather a symptom of a profound transformation of American power, and it reflects the fatigue of a country that has been the guarantor of the international order and is now adopting positions of economic and cultural protectionism,” he added. “We Europeans must face an uncomfortable reality: the United States has left us alone in matters of security and defense. This reliability has been destroyed by Trump with his current approach,” Borrell warned. Therefore, he warned, the Trump presidency “may force us to react and stop believing that we could continue sheltering ourselves indefinitely, and at low cost, under the protective umbrella of the United States.” “In fact, this reaction has already occurred. The new use of the emergency financial assistance clause to authorize the €150 billion in EU debt (to develop European defense) is part of that response,” he explained. “Military capabilities are more than simply the production of weapons. This could materialize in the form of a European pillar within NATO or through the establishment of a European military alliance, something already provided for in the Treaties if the Member States have the political will to do so,” because “this is an intergovernmental competence that cannot be addressed by the European Commission.” For all these reasons, he warned, “old Europe urgently needs a crash course on how to exercise power if it does not want to fall victim to the growing global disorder,” because “Europe is in danger.” “We need a stronger Europe in all its dimensions, because a world in which Europe is weak will resemble Trump's world,” he concluded. <h5><strong>Josep Borrell</strong></h5> On May 9, the King awarded the Carlos V European Prize to Josep Borrell for “his career, his defense of peace, democracy, and European values, and for his contribution to European integration and his drive to develop the European Union's external action, which has strengthened the Union's role and leadership in the world at particularly delicate times.” An aeronautical engineer and economist, Josep Borrell held various ministerial positions in the Spanish government from 1984 to 1996. He subsequently participated in the drafting of the European Union's Constitutional Treaty as a member of the Convention. In 2004, he was elected to the European Parliament, after running in the elections at the top of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) list. Between 2004 and 2007, he served as President of the European Parliament, and in June 2018, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Spanish Government. Following the 2019 European elections, he was elected to the position of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, a position he held until 2024. From this position, he faced some of the most significant and serious challenges facing the European Union in recent years, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which required him to coordinate the civil and military response strategies of the Member States.
