Rarely have members of the European Parliament been as unanimous as when they debated the US claim to Greenland in Strasbourg on January 20.
Not only the centrist parties but also the far left and far right united in sharp criticism of Trump.
The furthest away was once again Anders Vistisen of the Danish People's Party, who offered a "bug off!" to Trump - an attempt to sound a little milder than the "fuck off!" for which he received harsh criticism from the parliamentary leadership after uttering it in a debate last year.
“Unacceptable”
Shortly afterwards, another outcry came when Trump claimed that other NATO countries had mostly remained in the background during the years after the September 11, 2001 attacks in Afghanistan.
"Our country paid an indisputable price: 53 fallen soldiers and 700 injured... Statements that minimize the efforts of NATO countries 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 right-wing populist parties, 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 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, says Daniel Hegedüs from the think tank German Marshall Fund to the AP news agency.
Both the German AFD and the French National Rally, as well as the Hungarian governing party Fidesz, have otherwise looked forward to support from the new US leadership in the state, municipal and parliamentary elections that are coming up in March and April.
Marks distance
The National Rally is now trying to mark its distance instead.
The EU must immediately activate its anti-coercive instrument (also known as the “trade bazooka”) and take action against US 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 in order 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 project a picture of strength, unity and assertiveness," Zerka writes in an analysis .
Applause for ICE
In one of the far-right parties' favorite areas - immigration - Trump also still receives strong support among many supporters in Europe.
"Good job, ICE!" wrote, for example, Polish EU MEP Dominik Tarczynski on X , after the controversial U.S. immigration enforcement agency shot and killed Renée Good, a mother of three, in Minneapolis in early January.
And even when it comes to Greenland, Trump has the occasional supporter in Europe.
We will be safer if Greenland belongs to the US. 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 20 January.
The European far-right parties are loosely organized into three "party families" which 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 EPP group. It includes SD, the Italian governing party Brothers of Italy and the Polish Law and Justice (PiS), among others.
PFE (Patriots for Europe) was founded by the Hungarian government party Fidesz and the French National Rally, together with Geert Wilders' Dutch PVV, the Danish People's Party and the Austrian FPÖ, among others.
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).
