Bannon seeks European upset with appeal to populist forces

Bloomberg

Steve Bannon helped upend the political order in the US before falling out with President Donald Trump. Now he’s looking to recreate his former glories in Europe.
Bannon is planning a roadshow across half a dozen European countries this week to organise a loose alliance of populist leaders and parties in a bid to gain a bigger foothold for their policies in the European Parliament, Trump’s former strategist said in an interview.
The Brussels-based group, dubbed The Movement and founded by Belgian politician Mischael Modrikamen, plans to highlight the importance of national sovereignty, stronger borders, greater limits on migration and fighting against so-called radical Islam, all as a means to boost nationalist parties in the May parliamentary elections.
The push to unite populist forces gives urgency to concerns among some European Union leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron at the looming clash of values over the bloc’s future direction. EU leaders meeting in the Austrian city of Salzburg later on Wednesday were expected to discuss two of the bloc’s existential threats, the migration crisis and Brexit, both of which serve as rallying cries for nationalists across the bloc.
“The individual parties throughout Europe are ‘woke’,” Bannon said in an interview last week in his Capitol Hill townhouse, adding that he wants enough like-minded candidates to win seats in the EU Parliament to act as a block to pro-EU groups. “Europe’s going to see an intensity and focus among the voters and the media that what is happening is basically going to be a continent-wide presidential election.”

‘Iconic Leader’
Political forces are aligning in Europe ahead of a clash over fundamental principles that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned poses questions over the EU’s future cohesion. The UK’s plan to quit the bloc in March, Russian aggression, democratic backsliding in eastern Europe and Trump’s “America First” agenda are all tugging at the foundation of the European project.
So far Matteo Salvini’s anti-immigrant League and the conservative Brothers of Italy are the only two groups that have officially aligned themselves with The Movement, which will offer like-minded parties —free of charge—polling, data analytics, messaging and so-called war room services. The group won’t be involved in selecting candidates or in imposing platforms.
But Modrikamen, 52, sees recent moves by Macron and his allies in Parliament having helped European populists. Last week’s vote in the EU assembly to censure Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban “created an iconic leader out of Orban,’’ said Modrikamen. As for Macron’s pledge to lead pro-globalist parties against the nationalists, he said, “It’s perfect for us.”
The support Bannon and Modrikamen are offering heightens the likelihood of an electoral clash in May between populist groups that have gained footholds in member states including Germany, Austria, Hungary, France and Sweden and supporters of the liberal establishment, such as Macron, Belgium’s Charles Michel, The Netherlands’ Mark Rutte and Luxembourg’s Xavier Bettel.