These debates, organized in the European Parliament just hours after the American president was sworn in under the dome of the Capitol, illustrate the painful introspection in which the Old Continent is plunged.
Since the November election, European leaders have continued to assert that Donald Trump’s comeback at the head of the world’s leading power had this time been well anticipated.
Just like his threats to “steal jobs” from allied countries, to bludgeon the continent with customs taxes, to suspend American aid to Ukraine or to slam the door on NATO.
But faced with the shock declarations of the tempestuous septuagenarian and the unequivocal support of Elon Musk for the German far-right party AfD, some MEPs denounce on the contrary the wait-and-see attitude, even the feverishness of Brussels.
“We share a lot of things with the Americans, but at the same time, we must not be naive,” warns centrist Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, of the Renew group. “We must not have our actions dictated to us by Donald Trump or Elon Musk,” she pleads to journalists.
“When animals feel fear, they attack twice as violently,” adds socialist Laura Ballarin Cereza, “worried” about the European response to the offensives of the American president and the boss of the social network X, Elon Musk.
On these issues, is Europe capable of speaking with one voice?
-This is the whole purpose of these debates in Strasbourg.
On Tuesday morning, a majority of MEPs will undoubtedly criticize Mr. Musk’s “interferences” in Europe. After showering Donald Trump’s campaign with millions of dollars, the richest man on the planet took up the cause of the AfD in Germany and organized a conversation on his platform with the party’s candidate for chancellor Alice Weidel, before the February elections.
Many elected officials will also put pressure on the Commission to sanction the social network and its boss for possible violations of the powerful European digital regulation, the DSA.
But Donald Trump and Elon Musk, also the boss of Tesla, also arouse the fascination, even adulation, of certain MEPs. Around ten of them traveled to Washington to participate in the festivities linked to the Republican’s inauguration in the polar cold, as did Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Calls for greater firmness from the Commission in its application of the “Digital Services Act” — which could put Elon Musk at risk of copious fines — have thus been firmly rejected by the European far right.
“We are used to seeing this type of censorship in China or Cuba,” protested Patriots spokesperson Alonso De Mendoza Asensi. “It is really disturbing to see that this is happening now in Europe,” he denounced.
