Steve Bannon setting up "The Movement" to bolster Europe's nationalists
LONDON -- The former chief strategist for U.S. President Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, is setting up a foundation in Europe to support nationalist movements on the continent, according to reports. The group, called The Movement, will be a "clearing house for the populist, nationalist movement in Europe," Kassam Raheem, the former editor-in-chief of Breitbart London who is working with Bannon, told the Reuters news agency.
"We're focusing attention on assisting individuals or groups concerned with the matters of sovereignty, border control, jobs, amongst other things," Raheem said.
The group will be headquartered in Brussels, "because it is the heart of the European Union," Raheem continued, calling the bloc, "the most pernicious force against nation state democracy in the West today."
Nationalist, populist, and far-right movements have been gaining strength in Europe; Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Hungary have all recently elected right-wing leaders.
Bannon sees an opportunity to support domestic nationalist parties in countries across Europe with a centralized operation that shares their larger priorities, the Daily Beast reported. He was surprised to learn that no such operation already existed, the Daily Beast said.
According to Bannon, grassroots nationalist movements in countries throughout Europe are ripe for mobilization.
"It will be instantaneous," he told the Daily Beast, "as soon as we flip the switch."
Bannon said that he hopes The Movement will rival George Soros' Open Society Foundations, which have, since 1984, given 32 billion dollars to fund mainly liberal causes across Europe.
"I want to win and then I want to effectuate change," Bannon told the Daily Beast.
