Last weekend, when the Spanish prime minister called some other European states “selfish”, even allies must have winced. This is not because Pedro Sánchez was without a case. Governments were proposing to (literally) isolate Spain after a surge of migrants into Ceuta. Some had got their facts wrong. It is just that many see him as a stickler for the national interest himself. He has rejected Nato’s ambition to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence, as Russia would not be “bringing its troops across the Pyrenees”. Nations on the other side of those mountains found that line wanting in solidarity.
Northern and southern Europe inhabit increasingly different mental worlds. The consuming focus of the north is Russia. Unless Vladimir Putin mellows in the autumn of his life, this will not change soon. The south, which has less exposure to that problem, can cite other priorities. One is climate change, which discriminates according to latitude. Sánchez once suggested that Spain’s efforts against it should count as defence expenditure. This summer’s wildfires make it harder to dismiss him as a sophist.