Trump's comments create concern among the far right in the EU

TT

Published 13.00

           

           

           

           

          US President Donald Trump in Davos during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January.

          1 / 4Photo: Markus Schreiber/AP/TT

Donald Trump's comments on Greenland and NATO could make him a burden rather than an asset for Europe's far right in the upcoming elections.

But he still receives support on immigration policy.

Rarely have members of the EU Parliament been so unanimous as when they debated the US's claim to Greenland in Strasbourg on January 20.

Not only the center parties but also the far left and far right united in sharp criticism of Trump.

The furthest went again was Anders Vistisen of the Danish People's Party, who offered a "bug off!" to Trump - an attempt to still sound a little milder than the "fuck off!" that he received harsh criticism from the parliamentary leadership for having uttered in a debate last year.

“Unacceptable”

The next outcry came shortly after when Trump claimed that other NATO countries had mostly remained in the background during the years in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

“Our country paid a price that cannot be questioned: 53 fallen soldiers and 700 injured. . . Statements that minimize NATO countries’ efforts in Afghanistan are unacceptable,” even Italy’s strongly pro-Trump Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote in a statement.

Criticism of Trump is otherwise rare from Europe’s populist parties on the right, whose voters often support Trump or at least his political ideas.

Is the right splitting?

Several of the Trump-leaning parties in Europe have a nervous spring ahead of them, with concerns that new Trump-leaning moves will affect them in upcoming elections.

“If Trump continues in this way and is a threat to the independence of European countries, he will of course split the radical right in Europe,” Daniel Hegedüs of the German Marshall Fund think tank told the AP news agency.

Both the German AfD and the French National Rally and the Hungarian government party Fidesz have otherwise looked forward to a boost from the new US leadership in the state, municipal and parliamentary elections that are due in March and April.

Marking distance

The National Rally is now instead trying to mark its distance.

“The EU must immediately activate its anti-coercive instrument (also known as the “trade bazooka”) and take measures against American services and exports to Europe. It would be a historic mistake to give in,” urged party leader Jordan Bardella in the EU Parliament debate.

It could very well work, believes Pawel Zerka, at the ECFR think tank in Brussels – especially considering that many heads of state and government in Europe have been considerably more cautious in their criticism of Trump after all, so as not to risk new problems.

“It is unlikely that far-right leaders in France, Germany and the UK will lose anything from what happened in January. They have shown a moderate level of criticism of the US president, while most mainstream leaders and the EU as a whole failed to give an image of strength, unity and self-confidence,” Zerka writes in an analysis.

Applause for ICE

In one of the far-right parties’ favorite areas – immigration – Trump still receives strong support from many supporters in Europe.

“Good job, ICE!” wrote Polish MEP Dominik Tarczynski on X, for example, after the controversial American immigration police shot and killed mother of three Renée Good in Minneapolis in early January.

And even when it comes to Greenland, Trump has some supporters in Europe.

– We will be safer if Greenland belongs to the USA. And if I, as a Lithuanian citizen, could choose between the EU and America, I would choose America, said MEP Petras Grazulis in the debate on January 20.

FACTS

The far-right in the EU

The European parties on the far right are loosely organised into three “party families” that are also party groups in the EU Parliament.

The ECR (European Conservatives and Reformists) is the oldest group, once created by the Conservative Party in the UK, when they felt uncomfortable with the more traditional conservative party group EPP. This includes, among others, the SD, the Italian governing party Brothers of Italy and the Polish Law and Justice (PIS).

PFE (Patriots for Europe) was founded by the Hungarian governing party Fidesz and the French National Rally, together with, among others, Geert Wilders’ Dutch PVV, the Danish People’s Party and the Austrian FPÖ.

ESN (Europe of Independent Nations) is the youngest group, dominated by the German AFD along with, among others, the Czech new government party SPD and Éric Zemmour's French Reconquest (Reconquête).