Brussels is taking its chances this month
- The ‘Ukrainian question’
- Two frontiers: the Canary Islands problem and the Bulgarian attempt
- Forging the crisis of 2026
The ‘Ukrainian question’
Problems beset Ursula von der Leyen and her Executive, who held an emergency meeting in March 2024, inviting the main presidents of the European Union member states to break the deadlock in a situation in which they do not end up participating with the prominence they insist on, nor with the one they probably have at the moment, knowing that they hold the highest card in the deck: the initiative of the negotiation.
I emphasise what has been said in previous articles about the axis on which the ‘Ukrainian question’ swings, since it is veiledly debated only between two players: Trump and Putin, leaving aside a European Commission that is weak in its internationalist political drive, diminished by the enormous bureaucratic machinery that muddies the hundreds of thousands of administrative processes that swarm through the offices of the executive headquarters, to put it mildly and not to say that in this cycle it is experiencing the greatest identity crisis since its foundation. The compulsory increase in the internal defence budgets of the Member States is being reported in all the national newspapers. The reality is that neither have citizens been involved in this movement, nor is there excessive popularity for joining the ranks.
Hadja Lahbib, the European Commissioner for Equality and much more, has used her social networks to show the survival kit in a humorous way with some of the items that should be included in this rucksack of ‘be prepared and wait 72 hours’. And the fact is that, from our point of view, almost 70% of the population opposes this guideline and would opt for the more stable route offered by diplomacy, favouring a pact between the large blocs that are fighting over the territory already nicknamed ‘the granary of Brussels’ and not only for cereals, but also because the strategic lands are now the chips of this poker table.
Two frontiers: the Canary Islands problem and the Bulgarian attempt
The Canary Islands problem continues to weigh down the European Executive, where the archipelago is undoubtedly used as a preferred entry route by illegal migrants and the mafias that direct them to access Europe, following the drastic closures of the Lampedusa route.
The numbers of arrivals are increasing, with a rise of up to 303% in the number of people who have applied to the Spanish authorities for asylum, refuge or welfare assistance. A new flow of people is emerging who are trying to enter via the Delhi-Dubai-Mauritania route, including among their ranks Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and a whole host of Indian nationalities. This fact gives us a glimpse that it is not only Africans who are travelling to Europe, but that the dream of a northern bonanza has clouded the expectations of half the globe, innocent that, on arrival, the conditions may not be the same as those of the mirage of a rich destination in the Old Continent, because they have to face not only their own adaptive process, but they must also bring their professional knowledge into line with the labour regulations and tariffs required at their destination.
On the other hand, Europe is overwhelmed and does not know what else to do about the political crisis in Bulgaria, where the European Commission has stretched the legislation to the limit, forcing the withdrawal of one of the candidates on the grounds of his closeness to the far right, revealing, behind bureaucratic smokescreens, that they are not infallible when it comes to unifying criteria and that it is a clear example of the growing social diversity within the Member States.
Forging the crisis of 2026
And we can squeeze the lemon even further by adding the craziest European order of all, which in my opinion will definitively sink the European dream of being a nation of nations: the creation of the digital euro. I would bet with my eyes closed that the day after the implementation of this measure, Europeans will start to trade internationally in any currency, dollars or dirhams, since nothing will matter as long as they can circumvent excessive digital taxation with the idea of a ‘basket currency’ in the already depleted family budget, which has led millions of citizens to look for the alternative of ‘part time’ as a means of living, since a single salary is not enough.
Hundreds of thousands of workers from the Maghreb and the lower Sahel with work residence in Spain bear witness to this and tell their families in their countries of origin where money transactions on remittance platforms have dropped considerably.
Francisco de Torres, president of Sociedad Civil Atlántica y de Valores (SOCIAT-V)