Iratxe Garcia (Barakaldo, 1974), president of the group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament for the second consecutive term, has been a member of the European Parliament for more than two decades and has witnessed first-hand the transformations that the EU has experienced and the management of the crises that are shaping the international order. This Friday and Saturday he will be in Barcelona to attend the Global Progressive Mobilization (GPM), where left-wing leaders and organizations from around the world meet to present solutions to the challenges they pose. Donald Trump and the advancement of far right. The day before he attends EL PERIÓDICO.
What is the main message you want to convey in this GPM?
That in the face of challenges, fears and uncertainty there is a progressive response to solve the problems of this world. From the global level to the most basic. We must strengthen democracy, which is more necessary than ever. We have the instruments, we have voices around the world and what we need is an exercise of exchange, of listening, of being able to put together the global response that this world needs.
Since his return to the White House, Trump has dynamited relations with the EU: he has accused it of being “in decline”, he has imposed astronomical tariffs, he has threatened to take Greenland “by hook or by crook… Is the EU responding appropriately to the US president?
I believe that there are voices that are firmly confronting that message, but the European institutions must be much more active in defending the European model, European sovereignty and a social model that we need to strengthen to protect citizens, but also to protect democracy in the rest of the world. It has been shown that the strategy of appeasement and silence does not work. Faced with leaders like Trump who use force, we have to be able to convey that Europe has great strengths: it has economic power, social power, commercial power, and we have to make use of that power.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen raised a storm a few weeks ago by saying that the EU can no longer be the guardian of the old world order and must adapt, and she was forced to renounce. What role, in your opinion, should the EU take on in this time of uncertainty?
The EU has to be the guardian of the rule of law, democracy, multilateralism. It’s in the treaties. That’s why we created the EU. This reflection by President Von der Leyen makes no sense, and I completely understand that she had to make a rectification, because it is quite the opposite. That world order is in danger and needs to be strengthened, of course, but we cannot say that it is outdated. What is there is in need of courageous reforms, which are what we have to address.
“The EU has to be the guardian of the rule of law, democracy, multilateralism. It is in the treaties. That is why we created the EU”
But how to combat characters like Trump or Putin, who have no respect for the norms established after the Second World War?
The first thing is to strengthen Europe’s role in the international arena. Strategic autonomy cannot be a wish, it has to be a reality. And do it understanding that this world has changed. Relations between the US and Europe are fundamental, but we have to look at other spaces: Latin America, Asia, Africa… We need to make a virtue of necessity. This situation of deterioration in transatlantic relations must mean an opportunity to open the way to cooperate with these other regions in the world.
The war in Iran has once again reminded us of the need for strategic autonomy… What does the EU need to achieve it?
It needs to advance the green agenda, without a doubt. The conflict in Iran has shown us that this green agenda, which the extreme right and conservatives are trying to destroy with the mantra of simplification, is more necessary than ever. We need to move forward in a Europe that is not dependent on foreign energy, with the development of renewable energy. On the other hand, socialists are also asking for short-term measures to stop the consequences of this war. Before the Council next week, we send a letter to Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa with concrete measures, such as taxing the windfall profits of energy companies, reducing taxation for citizens or a social shield for the most vulnerable families because Trump organizes the ‘party’ and we citizens pay the consequences.
Given the threats that loom over Europe and Trump’s messages about NATO, Pedro Sánchez has urged the creation of a common European army. Is it something feasible?
It is a debate that has pros and cons, but it is the time for brave decisions. And this is one of them. We have been raising the need to advance the common European defense for some time. The first stones have been laid with the European defense industry. But this is not enough. Europe is a peace project and we have to be prepared to guarantee that peace.
“Trump organizes the ‘party’ and we citizens pay the consequences”
The defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary Could it mean a turning point in the advance of the extreme right in Europe?
Orbán’s defeat is a sign of hope. The extreme right uses power in a way that, as in Hungary, has real and effective consequences for citizens in economic matters, but also in terms of social rights and challenges to democracy. This ‘no’ to Orbán is a ‘no’ to Trump, it is a ‘no’ to Putin, it is a ‘no’ to Milei and Abascal, it is a ‘no’ to that politics of fear, of rejection of those who are different. The result in Hungary has to help us understand that we need to understand each other and strengthen democracies.
This week, Sánchez made his fourth visit to China in 4 years. Other European leaders such as Macron or Merz have also visited Beijing in recent months in their attempt to forge new alliances outside of Trump’s US. Is China a trustworthy partner for the EU?
It is a partner with whom we have to work and see how we solve the challenges that arise. We have very different ways of understanding the world. But it is also evident that when we are proposing the need to open up to alliances in the rest of the world, what Europe cannot do is base its entire political and commercial relationship in a single region, in a single sphere. But China is an important country with which to negotiate in that broad and diverse map in which Europe has to move.
“The ‘no’ to Orbán is a ‘no’ to Trump, it is a ‘no’ to Putin, it is a ‘no’ to Milei and Abascal, it is a ‘no’ to this policy of fear, of rejection of those who are different”
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Spain has shown itself to be very forceful with Israel, a firmness that has been repeated with the current war in Iran and the offensive in Lebanon. More and more countries are joining these criticisms, including France and Germany. Instead, Brussels has remained low profile. How do you think the Commission and the Council should react?
Just as we have been defending Ukraine against Russian aggression, Europe has to respond to conflicts such as those in the Middle East, Iran, Lebanon and Palestine with the same strength and the same unity. In Europe, foreign policy has its complexity. It is not always easy to make certain decisions, but I would have liked to hear the Commission much more vocal and active in this regard.
PSOE MEP Iratxe García, during the interview in the editorial office of EL PERIÓDICO. / JORDI COTRINA
The current composition of the European Parliament, with greater weight from the extreme right, is altering the traditional balances and the EPP is carrying out projects with the votes of these groups. Has the cordon sanitaire been broken forever?
We can say that the Popular Party has lost the complex. It is not possible to appeal to the pro-European alliance of traditional forces, such as popular, social democrats, liberals or greens, to guarantee the stability of the institutions, but then negotiate policies with the extreme right. The European People’s Group, Mr. Manfred Weber and the President of the Commission have to understand this. The Socialist Group is going to be reaching out to cooperate, to understand each other from the differences, thinking about what is best for European citizens and for Europe, but we are not going to allow that while we guarantee institutional stability, policies are negotiated with the extreme right.
Is this new balance of forces also causing social policies to only be applied as patches when crises such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East arise, instead of being a structural policy of the Union?
We would like, and we are continually demanding it, that these were policies that were on the agenda. And, in fact, everything that there is on social or housing matters in the Commission’s work plan for this year has been because we socialists have incorporated it into our negotiations. But it is true that it is based on a lot of effort, for the Popular Party it is not a priority. And I think they are wrong, that is ultimately detrimental to the European project.
“The Socialist Group is going to be reaching out to cooperate, to understand each other from the differences, thinking about what is best for European citizens and for Europe, but we are not going to allow that while we guarantee institutional stability, policies are negotiated with the extreme right”
In two weeks, the European Parliament’s position on the EU’s multiannual financial framework is scheduled to be voted on. Will you be able to agree on an ambitious position?
We have reached a good compromise on issues that are fundamental, such as the maintenance of the European Social Fund, which was in danger, or that there is a clear allocation to the common agricultural policy and the cohesion policy. We are also incorporating the child guarantee, important for the fight against child poverty. We have two weeks of negotiation ahead of us before voting on it in plenary. In principle, there is an agreement between the large political families, popular, social democrats, liberals and greens. And I hope that the text is maintained as it emerged from the commission.
Another important point on the legislative agenda is the trade agreement with the US. How do you foresee the negotiation with the States to reach an agreement?
Well, we start this week, but exclusively on a technical level. We social democrats have made it very clear that this agreement needs a series of guarantees based on mutual respect between the Trump Administration and Europe that did not exist in the initial proposal. We have incorporated clauses to mark the beginning and end of the agreement and we have said that an emergency brake must be put in place to stop the agreement if the Trump Administration again attacks territorial sovereignty, as with Greenland, or economic sovereignty, as when it makes threats to Spain regarding trade policy.
Last week, the Spanish Foreign Minister, insisted that Catalan will be an official language in the EU. Do you think this promise will materialize in this legislature?
I hope so. I hope that those who put stones in the way stop putting them and understand that linguistic wealth is another of the benefits of the European project and that putting it into practice makes us all feel much more European. There are negotiations in this regard that I believe will come to a successful conclusion.
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