Overview
- King Felipe VI delivered the warning at the Club de Madrid’s Annual Policy Dialogue Tuesday in Madrid’s Palacio de Cibeles and said the post‑20th‑century rules‑based international order is once again under strain.
- He framed the choice for governments as one between reinforcing collective action or succumbing to “the temptation to withdraw,” and stressed that the pressing issue is how to cooperate effectively rather than whether to cooperate.
- Felipe VI warned that interdependence is now often seen as a vulnerability and that currents are rising that privilege efficacy and material gains over legitimacy, rights and democratic participation.
- He listed shared global public goods—climate stability, health security, ocean protection, food supply and a safe digital environment—that no single state can protect alone and said inaction will be costlier than prevention.
- The speech invoked historical memory, referenced Woodrow Wilson and echoed Spain’s new Multilateral Policy as a policy response, signaling Madrid’s push for renewed cooperation and multilateral institutions to address accelerating geopolitical and technological change.