King Felipe VI of Spain appears at the UEFA EURO 2024 final match in Berlin, Germany, on July 14, 2024. The Spanish monarchy is an important component of its grand strategy. (Shutterstock/Mikolaj Barbarell)

Why the Spanish Monarchy Still Matters to the US

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The Spanish Crown is a critical element of continuity in Spain’s democracy and foreign policy.

Washington’s debate over Europe often begins with defense spending, NATO burden-sharing, and the recurring question of whether the United States can still afford to sustain European security. That debate is legitimate. But it is also incomplete. The transatlantic relationship is not a favor America grants to Europe. It is one of the central architectures of American power. Through NATO, military basing, intelligence cooperation, diplomatic alignment, and political legitimacy, the United States extends its strategic reach far beyond what geography alone would permit.

This is why Europe still matters to America. And within Europe, Spain deserves more attention than it often receives.

Spain is not a secondary actor on the continent’s margins. It is a NATO ally, a Mediterranean and Atlantic power, a gateway to North Africa, and Europe’s most natural bridge to Latin America. Its geography matters. Its history matters. Its political orientation matters. And at a time when Russia, China, and Iran are increasingly testing Western cohesion across several theaters, Spain’s place inside the Euro-Atlantic system is not a symbolic issue. It is a strategic one.

Russia, China, and Iran do not need a formal alliance to act in ways that reinforce one another. Moscow pressures Europe militarily. Beijing challenges the West economically, technologically, and politically. Tehran destabilizes the Middle East and tests the resolve of the United States and its partners. In such an environment, America’s alliances are not burdens. They are force multipliers.

NATO remains one of the most successful instruments of American strategy. It gives permanence to US commitments, widens the field of American influence, and converts shared interests into operational power. But NATO is not just composed of defense ministries and summit communiqués. It is an assemblage of nations, histories, institutions, and political cultures. To understand Europe, Washington must look beyond Brussels and beyond the........

© The National Interest