Fact-check: Absence of EU leaders in Trump inauguration is convention

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been invited to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th US president in Washington on Monday, in a move that breaks with tradition.

Inauguration day is considered a domestic event for Americans, with foreign states usually represented by diplomatic envoys.

This time, Meloni is among a limited number of world leaders, including China’s Xi Jinping, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, and Argentina’s Javier Millei, invited to the celebration.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Viktor Orbán confirmed that the Hungarian premier had not been invited, claiming no foreign leader received an “official” invitation.

Euroverify analysed US Department of State records, and found no evidence that any European head of state or government had ever attended inauguration day since records began in 1874.

But social media users and commentators have misleadingly described the exclusion of some leaders — such as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sánchez — as unprecedented and a signal of a strain in relations.

Trump’s decision to invite like-minded far-right politicians, including those challenging EU leaders for domestic power, have fuelled such claims. 

Among those expected to join celebrations on Monday are the UK’s Nigel Farage, France’s Éric Zemmour, Belgium’s Tom Van Grieken, former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Spain’s Santiago Abascal and Portugal’s André Ventura.

No European leader has ever attended US presidential inauguration

A journalist for the British TalkTV channel, which has previously been probed by regulator Ofcom for suspected breaches of impartiality rules, misleadingly described the exclusion of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer as a “massive stain on British history.”

The channel also described the move as a “major snub.”

Despite several X users rushing to debunk such comments for overlooking the fact that no British prime minister has been invited in the past, Euroverify failed to detect any community notes on the misleading posts. 

Trump’s inauguration comes on the heels of a political spat involving Starmer and Trump’s aide Elon Musk over a decades-long child sexual abuse scandal in the UK. Musk accused Starmer of complicity in the scandal in a raft of erratic posts on his platform, X.

The tech billionaire has also voiced support for the far-right Reform UK party, to which it is reportedly looking to make a donation to the tune of $100 million.

However, Musk made an unexpected u-turn on his known support for Reform UK leader Nigel Farage earlier this month, calling for him to quit and claiming he “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead the party.

The news that Santiago Abascal — who leads Spain’s far-right Vox and its European party family, Patriots for Europe — had been invited also fuelled misleading reports in Spain that prime minister Sánchez had been snubbed in favour of Abascal.

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Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares, attempted to debunk such claims: “In US presidential inaugurations, heads of state and government are not usually invited.”

“Invitations are of a personal, rather than institutional, nature. In fact, Spain’s prime ministers, head of state or ministers have never attended a US presidential inauguration,” Albares added, confirming that the Spanish government would be represented by its ambassador to the US, Ángeles Moreno.

Guest list packed with European far-right figures

Misleading claims Trump has intentionally snubbed EU leaders have been fuelled by his decision to invite radical figures from Europe’s far-right.

As well as a raft of notable far-right party leaders, including Farage and Abascal, parties such as France’s National Rally and Alternative for Germany (AfD) will send representatives.

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The National Rally’s press office confirmed Friday that it would be represented by vice-president Louis Aliot, spokesperson Julien Sanchez and MP Alexandre Sabatou.

AfD, which is polling in second place ahead of Germany’s federal elections next month, will be represented by its co-leader Tino Chrupalla.

Éric Zemmour, leader of France’s far-right Reconquête party, and Mateusz Morawiecki, the former Polish premier recently elected leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party, have also confirmed their attendance.