Vox leader Santiago Abascal will attend the inauguration of the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, next Monday. Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, will not be present, and Spain will be represented by the Spanish Ambassador in Washington, Ángeles Moreno.
According to sources from Vox, Abascal will travel to the United States next Thursday as part of a delegation invited by the group in the European Parliament, the Patriots for Europe, of which Vox is a member.
This political group was created last June after the European elections and it includes, in addition to Vox, parties such as Fidesz of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the National Rally (RN) of the French Marine Le Pen, and the Italian League of Matteo Salvini.
At a press conference, Abascal spoke yesterday about one of the members of the future Trump administration, the tycoon Elon Musk, whom he defended after the controversy that erupted in recent days following X's owner making several statements in favor of right-wing and far-right populists in the UK and the European Union.
“Now I see a lot of concern about the alleged influence of Elon Musk, who simply expresses his opinion and allows others to do the same. Since when is that prohibited?”
Trump, winner of the November elections, will take office next Monday in a ceremony in Washington DC that will be attended by numerous international leaders and other political figures. The former Republican president (2017-2021) will thus succeed President Joe Biden and begin his term, four years after leaving office.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, pointed out yesterday that “heads of state, government officials, or ministers are not usually invited to these events.” The invitations extended by the United States to attend the presidential inauguration are more personal than institutional, Albares explained yesterday in a press conference.
And some of these guests at the official ceremony where Trump will be sworn in as the new president of the USA, which will take place on January 20, include the Argentine president, Javier Milei, and the Italian prime minister, Georgia Meloni.
Regarding Abascal's presence, Albares said he has nothing to say about it and that Trump is “free” to invite whoever he wishes, emphasizing that Spain's position on the far right “is very clear,” as it goes against European values. “We will always defend European values,” he stated.