The silence of Alianza and Vox regarding Trump's threat in Greenland

BarcelonaDonald Trump's proposal to annex Greenland to the United States has caught Europe off guard, as it did not expect the US president to go so far. It also caught the Catalan and Spanish far right off guard, who remained silent, even though until now they had publicly supported the Republican leader in all the international conflicts he promoted or in which he became embroiled during his second term. Both Aliança Catalana and Vox did not hesitate to defend the US intervention in Venezuela, which ended with the arrest of its president, Nicolás Maduro. They also endorsed Trump's plans for Palestine, after shamelessly defending the genocide in Gaza. And in recent days, amidst the uprising in Iran, both parties have supported a future US intervention to end the Islamic Republic. The president of Aliança Catalana herself, Sílvia Orriols, urged him to repeat in Iran the operation against Hugo Chávez's successor. "Trump is taking far too long to capture ayatollahs..." he declared on social media.

In contrast, regarding the Inuit, Aliança and Vox have opted for silence. No social media posts or statements from either party, even though Trump has stated that he does not rule out military or economic force to gain control of the island. The dozens of tweets from Aliança's top leaders concerning Venezuela, Israel, and Iran contrast sharply with the absence of any messages about Greenland. When questioned by ARA, party sources avoided taking a stance and simply replied that "for now, it's all talk and no action" from Trump, without answering whether they approve of his desire to seize this autonomous territory of Denmark. "Defending the sovereignty of countries implies recognizing democratic results," Aliança stated in a press release regarding the intervention in Venezuela, endorsing the electoral fraud it denounced against the opposition. In any case, in Greenland, the majority of parties defend the island's full sovereignty, and the only one that wanted to annex it to the United States was left out of Parliament, as reflected in the elections held in March, just after Trump was re-elected and reiterated his desire to buy the island.

Greenland is also an uncomfortable issue for Vox, as were the tariffs announced by Trump against European Union countries. This explains why they haven't commented on Trump's threats to the sovereignty of the island, which is part of Denmark, despite numerous questions. The latest came on Thursday, when the party's general secretary in Catalonia, Ignacio Garriga, chose not to respond: "Today, our Davos and Greenland are the trains, the deaths in Andalusia and Gelida, and all those injured by the government's criminal mismanagement," he said. And, along the same lines, last week the state spokesperson, José Antonio Fúster, emphasized that Greenland is not Vox's "competition." Fúster added that what matters is "what" Trump does, "not what he says," and that "an opinion on everything in life" is unnecessary.

Inconsistencies with allies

The official argument is that they are focused on Pedro Sánchez's alleged corruption and on people's problems, which is what Abascal also appealed to a week ago: "Our Greenland is Mercosur, the Green Deal, farmers' problems, insecurity in the streets, and our own interests, but we have very distant problems," he said from Fraga. Sources within the party say they are aware that the other parties will press them about the "inconsistencies" of their international allies, but they also point to Trump's "unpredictability," who "points in many directions because he often wants to achieve something else." In fact, the announced preliminary agreement on Greenland regarding Arctic defense, in which Denmark assures that Danish sovereignty is not compromised, could turn the tables and lead Vox to make a statement on the matter, the sources predict.

On the other hand, Vox points out that they have already clashed with other allies, not just Trump, such as France's Marine Le Pen, who vehemently opposed the US actions in Venezuela. They have also clashed with her on issues of gay rights and abortion.