Italy – IDIS Observer

Perhaps one of the most surprising changes during the Trump presidency has been the change in the attitude towards Europe and particularly the European Union. When asked to identify his biggest competitor or foe during an interview in July 2018, President Trump said:

“Well, I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now, you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe.” (1)

USA and particularly Republicans have increased their cooperation with European far-right and right-wing populist leaders. The former leader of British far-right party UKIP, “Mr. Brexit” Nigel Farage has had close ties particularly to President Trump and Steve Bannon (2). Farage is still campaigning for Brexit and according to him President Trump is a “believer in Brexit” (3, 4). In last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC, organized by American Conservative Union ACU, one of the guest speakers was Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, who describes herself to be “the political heir” of her grandfather Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the French far-right party National Front (5).

President Trump has appointed ambassadors who have caused controversy. The US ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra has worked closely with some American anti-Muslim organizations and he has made several unsubstantiated anti-Muslim claims (6). The US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell caused controversy already before his appointment because of his insulting and derogatory remarks about women. After becoming the ambassador Grenell gave an interview to far-right news outlet Breitbart and said that he wanted to “empower” anti-establishment right-wing forces throughout Europe (7, 8). Steve Bannon has been trying to start a “Trump-style populist insurgency” with his Brussels-based group The Movement. However, many European far-right parties or politicians haven’t been very keen to join his operation (9).

Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has joined Bannon’s group (9, 10). Salvini has also wanted to create “Italian-Polish axis” that could help to spark right-wing populist “European Spring” and replace the center-right “French-German axis” in Europe (11). Poland has become increasingly important ally of USA. President Trump has praised Poland and Polish people “for standing up for their independence, their security and their sovereignty.” The ruling Polish nationalists have wanted to strengthen the American-Polish alliance even more by requesting that USA would establish a permanent armored base, “Fort Trump”, in Poland. European diplomats have been worried that “hard-liners in the White House are using a willing Warsaw as a wedge to divide and weaken the EU, with which Trump has clashed over trade, climate change, defense spending, Middle East diplomacy and global governance” (12).

Reference:

1) “Donald Trump calls the EU ‘a foe’ ahead of Putin summit” Independent 15.7.2018

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/trump-calls-eu-foe-putin-summit-european-union-china-russia-a8448421.html

2) “Nigel Farage on the story behind his friendship with Trump” The New Yorker 30.11.2016

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/nigel-farage-on-the-story-behind-his-friendship-with-trump

3) “Nigel Farage: Trump supports Brexit because it will upend ‘global bureaucracy’” Breitbart 20.12.2018

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/12/20/nigel-farage-trump-supports-brexit-because-it-will-upend-global-bureaucracy/

4) “Nigel Farage joins Leave Means Leave campaign as Vice Chairman” Leave Means Leave

https://www.leavemeansleave.eu/nigel-farage-joins-leave-means-leave-campaign-vice-chairman/

5) “Trump’s GOP is morphing into France’s far right” The Washington Post 23.2.2018

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/23/trumps-gop-is-morphing-into-frances-far-right/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.12446e5a9a6c

6) “New US ambassador to Netherlands regularly made unsubstantiated ‘no-go zones’ claims, speculated 15% of Muslims could be jihadists” CNN 9.1.2018

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/09/politics/kfile-pete-hoekstra-no-go-zones/index.html

7) “Senator weighs holding up Trump nominee over ‘insulting and derogatory’ tweets” The Daily Beast 12.7.2017

https://www.thedailybeast.com/senate-democrat-holding-up-trump-nominee-richard-grenell-over-insulting-and-derogatory-tweets?ref=scroll

8) “New US ambassador to Germany under fire for rightwing support” The Guardian 4.6.2018

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/04/new-us-ambassador-to-germany-under-fire-for-rightwing-support

9) “Steve Bannon’s far-right Europe operation undermined by election laws” The Guardian 21.11.2018

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/21/steve-bannons-rightwing-europe-operation-undermined-by-election-laws

10) “Italy’s Matteo Salvini joins Bannon’s European populist group” The Guardian 8.9.2018

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/08/italy-matteo-salvini-joins-steve-bannon-european-populist-group-movement

11) “Salvini calls for ‘Italian-Polish axis’ to replace Paris-Berlin” EurActiv 10.1.2019

https://www.euractiv.com/section/eu-elections-2019/news/salvini-calls-for-italian-polish-axis-to-replace-paris-berlin/

12) “Poland’s risky ‘America first’ policy” Politico 6.10.2018