Spain does not have any real enemies, on the other hand it does not maintain good relations with anyone. As has been said it is a member of NATO but it goes out of its way to be friendly with Russia, to the extent of giving them full naval replenishment facilities in the port of Ceuta right by one of the most strategic stretches of water in the world, the Straits of Gibraltar. Only a VERY sharp rebuke from the Pentagon brought that to an end. It has twice interfered with the passage of US nuclear submarines in the Straits of Gibraltar and has frequently interfered with the passage of British nuclear submarines. It has released military secrets about the US bases in Spain to the press. It also suffered a serious security failure in the Rota naval base, the 2nd most important in Europe. When the war was going on with Libya it refused overflying rights and airborne refuelling to the US and Britain which created a serious problem for the allies. None of this has endeared Spain to NATO.

In 2017 Spain was the member state of the EU that least complied with the directives of that body. It is the country that has received more money from the EU than any other country but has been a nett contributor in only 2 years since it joined the E.U. in 1986. There are people that say it does not qualify to be a member of the EU because of problems relating to justice, freedom of expression and human rights. The human rights issue is a major issue.

Much of the money received from the E.U. has either been wasted on unnecessary projects, according to Brussels, or has disappeared into thin air. Corruption is a major issue which does not endear Spain to the other members states of the E.U.

Spain is a country that gives politics precedence over everything. For that reason it is blocking EU projects as important as safety in the skies because of its attitude over Gibraltar. I do not believe a single country in the world supports Spain’s attitude towards Gibraltar with the possible exception of Argentina.

It is obstructing E.U. policy over Kosovo because it fears that it will set a precedent for Catalonia. Many countries in the E.U. find all these continual problems with Spain to be very frustrating.

The bottom line is that Spain has no real enemies but neither does it have many friends.

Ed Wilcox, former Retired,working at travelling as often as possible (1958-2019). Answered Jan 6 2018 · Author has 816 answers and 276.5k answer views

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