[Salon] The Transatlantic Extreme Right (II)

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

https://www.german-foreign-policy.com/news/detail/9860

The Transatlantic Extreme Right (II)

Pro-government forces in the USA are expanding their support for the extreme right in the EU - not least in favor of the AfD, whose chancellor candidate is making targeted efforts to make the party capable of coalition.

10FEB2025

Patriots for Europe (PfE)

In the shadow of the violent shift to the right of US policy under President Donald Trump, the European party Patriots for Europe (PfE) held its latest general meeting in Madrid at the weekend. The PfE has a total of 14 parties from twelve EU countries; in the European Parliament, they are the third strongest group with currently 86 deputies. The ranks of the PfE are a prime minister (Viktor Orbán, Fidesz/Hungary), two deputy prime ministers (Matteo Salvini, Lega/Italy and Fleur Agema, Partij voor de Vrijheid/Netherlands) and a potential prime minister (Herbert Kickl, FPÖ/Austria). In addition, there are politicians such as Andrej Babiš (ANO 2011/Czech Republic), who could also become prime minister after the widely predicted election victory of his party in October, and Marine Le Pen (Rassemblement National/France), who is considered a possible winner in the presidential elections in France in 2027. The European elections in Belgium were the winner of the PfE member Vlaams Belang, while the Spanish member of the PfE Vox was already involved in government coalitions in several of the 17 autonomous regions of Spain. Martin Helme, chairman of the PfE party Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond (EKRE), served as Minister of Finance of Estonia from 2019 to 2021.

"Tornado Trump"

Trump's election victory and his first measures in the office of US president have been enthusiastically celebrated at the PfE General Assembly - especially because of their globally mobilizing effect for the extreme right. "The Tornado Trump" has "changed the world in a few weeks," Orbán stated in a speech to the 2,000 participants of the event in Madrid; political forces - such as the PfE - which were previously described as "heretics" and dismissed as remnants of past times, are now classified as harbingers of the future. 1] Orbán was applauded when he thanked him afterwards for the support that the Franco dictatorship had given to the then uprising in Hungary in 1956. Vox, the party that organized the Madrid event – it is led by PfE President Santiago Abascal – is in the tradition of the Franco regime. Abascal, in turn, pleaded before the participants of the event for closing ranks at EU level with other relevant far-right parties. He explicitly mentioned the party of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), in which the Fratelli d'Italia (FdI) of the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni currently set the tone, and the AfD, whose chancellor candidate Alice Weidel he wished for "the victory" for the upcoming election. 2]

"Make Europe Great Again"

While in Madrid Trump was praised as a role model - the general assembly was under the motto "Make Europe Great Again" (MEGA) - several leaders of extreme right-wing parties thanked Elon Musk in particular. "The new technologies are beginning to work together with the battle for freedom," PfE President Abascal said; the parties gathered in the Spanish capital have long been the object of "relentless censorship" so that no one "hears their message", this has changed thanks in particular thanks to Musk and his medium X. 3] The PfE group in the European Parliament and the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) group, which is a member of the AfD, had jointly nominated Musk for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of the Sakhar, which the European Parliament awards annually last year. However, their advance remained unsuccessful: the prize ultimately went to two Venezuelan oppositionists. 4] The relationship with Musk has long gone beyond ideological closeness. Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, chairman of the Italian PfE party Lega, advocates the awarding of a billion-dollar contract to Musk's satellite service Starlink. According to this, in the future, government agencies in Italy, possibly including the military and intelligence services, will use Musk's satellites for sensitive communication. 5]

The Heritage Foundation

The concrete relations that the PfE have developed in the US rights now extend beyond Musk. A delegation from the European Party took part on 20. She was the only party from the EU to receive an invitation to receive an invitation in Washington on January 1. 6] The delegation used its stay in the US capital for meetings with a number of politicians, foundations and other institutions.[ 7] In particular, she exchanged ideas with representatives of the Heritage Foundation, one of the most influential right-wing think tanks in the US establishment. Last year, the Heritage Foundation developed concepts and strategies for the Trump administration as part of its Project 2025, to which the US president has begun to link up with. With Andrew Puzder, Trump has nominated an employee of the Heritage Foundation as the new US ambassador to the EU. 8] On Friday evening, leading representatives of the PfE met with Kevin Roberts on the sidelines of the PfE General Assembly in Madrid.[ 9] Roberts is president of the Heritage Foundation. He had already received the Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán in Washington at the end of November 2022 and expressly praised the political development of Hungary under him.

The CPAC Hungary 2025

The next CPAC Hungary will bring a further boost to the expansion of relations between the US and European extreme right at the end of May. The CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), founded in 1974 in the USA as a networking meeting of the right wing of the US Republicans, has developed into a mass event since the 2000s and has been following the course of Donald Trump, who had just been elected US president since 2017. It has also been establishing political offshoots abroad since 2017; in 2022, CPAC Hungary took place in Budapest for the first time. In addition to US politicians, representatives of various right-wing and extreme right-wing organizations in Europe were involved, including not least parties that today belong to the PfE, such as Vox, the Dutch Partij voor de Vrijheid and the Belgian Vlaams Belang. At times, representatives of the Fratelli d'Italia of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as well as members of the AfD were also present. 10] At CPAC Hungary 2025, Prime Minister Orbán will once again deliver one of the main speeches.[ 11] Co-organizer is on the US side the chairman of the American Conservative Union, Matt Schlapp. Schlapp's wife Mercedes Schlapp worked as a strategic communications consultant in Trump's election campaign before the presidential election in November 2020.

On the way to coalition capacity

The US support - in her case by Elon Musk - continues to bring upwind to the AfD, which is now more than 20 percent in polls. The elections are "a historic opportunity" for the German right, said the Italian Deputy Prime Minister Salvini at the Madrid PfE General Assembly. 12] As a precondition for the government participation of extreme right-wing parties, a new cordon sanitaire is now widely mentioned, which should contain three elements - approval of the EU, the rule of law, approval of NATO. 13] AfD Chancellor candidate Alice Weidel has now indicated that she is ready for the necessary concessions. She recently stated on a talk show that her party's official demand to reintroduce the D-Mark was obsolete: "It is far too late for an exit from the euro". 14] The AfD has also promised a relative rapprochement with the USA in its election program and cautiously opened up to transatlantic cooperation within the NATO framework (german-foreign-policy.com reported [15]). With this, the party is approaching the coalition capability according to the standards of the newly defined cordon sanitaire.

More on the topic: The transatlantic extreme right.

[1], [2] Miguel González: La ultraderecha europea celebra en Madrid la vuelta a la Casa Blanca de su "compañero de armas" Donald Trump. elpais.com 08.02.2025.

[3] Sandrine Morel, Allan Kaval: A Madrid, l'extrême droite européenne s'inscrit dans les pas de Donald Trump. lemonde.fr 09.02.2025.

[4] Mathieu Pollet: The EU far right wants to give Elon Musk a free speech award. politico.eu 26.09.2024.

[5] Salvini: "Musk può essere utile all'Italia. Trump da Nobel se riesce a ottenere la pace”. repubblica.it 06.02.2025.

[6] Miguel González: Abascal reúne en Madrid a los líderes de la ultraderecha europea bajo la sombra de Trump.elpais.com 07.02.2025.

[7] Patriots.eu delegation in Washington. patriots.eu 27.01.2025.

[8] Heritage Foundation Applauds Nomination of Andrew Puzder as Ambassador to EU. heritage.org 23.01.2025.

[9] EU far-right parties rally in Madrid behind slogan 'Make Europe Great Again'. france24.com 08.02.2025.

[10] S. an oligarch for the AfD.

CPAC Hungary 2025: The Age of Patriots is Here! cpachungary.com

[12] Trump-style victory the aim for Europe's far right as leaders praise US president at Madrid conference. news.sky.com 08.02.2025.

[13] S. to this The fire wall breaks.

[14] "For withdrawal from the euro much too late". tagesschau.de 03.02.2025.

[15] S. to contradictory approach.