Spanish foreign minister urges EU to ‘stop talking and start acting’

OVIEDO, Spain

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Monday that Europe can no longer afford to comment from the sidelines as crises unfold across multiple regions.

“Europe has to stop talking and start acting,” Albares said during an address at the Ateneo de Madrid cultural center. “Our economic weight has to be transformed into political weight.”

Albares said Spain alone cannot confront global instability but stressed that collective action through Europe is essential. Discussions are underway with other European partners about possible joint initiatives, including flexible coalitions of willing countries, he said.

“The pressure on Greenland has to end,” he said, referring to US threats to acquire the island, adding that decisions about its future belong to Denmark and the people of Greenland.

He added that if credible security threats emerge, NATO allies could reinforce security on the island, provided the risks are clearly identified.

However, he also cautioned against discussing “political fiction” and said he is not adopting the hypothesis that the US could intervene in Greenland in the same way it did in Venezuela.

Albares also commented on Iran, calling on the government to end violence against demonstrators, but also urging against foreign military interventions.

“Iran does not need any kind of external force,” Albares said, warning that the use of force would only lead “to more chaos.”

He described Iran as “one of those points where the world order is being transformed. “At this moment, everything is connected, absolutely everything,” he said.

Albares also addressed the US intervention in Venezuela, which Spain has firmly condemned.

He defended the work of Spanish private companies in the country, including oil company Repsol, whose executive recently told US President Donald Trump that it could ramp up production in Venezuela.

“I will not be the one to add pressure on a Spanish company,” he said, noting that business leaders are not diplomats and that companies must protect their interests, including jobs in Spain.