On a rainy Tuesday last week, Chile’s president-elect José Kast took to a stage in the European Parliament to pledge allegiance to Donald Trump’s White House.
“We’ve worked together for so many years and generated links on both sides of the pond,” the incoming far-right president told his audience, hundreds of sharply dressed politicians, special advisers, think tank staffers and political influencers. “We want to see that alliance between the USA and Europe.”
In one month, Kast will be in power, having sold a now-familiar cocktail of populist anger, anti-immigrant sentiment, and anti-gender messaging around abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. In Brussels, his speech was both celebrated and echoed. “Freedom lovers around the world must work more closely with the US,” said Brazil’s former minister of foreign affairs, Ernesto Araújo, when he was given the microphone. “This needs to be a transnational fight.”
Trump may spearhead that fight, but it’s a global war. And at the Political Network for Values’ seventh annual transatlantic summit in Belgium, which openDemocracy attended to report on, it was clear that Make America Great Again’s far-right agenda has a strong foothold in Europe, championed not by an oppressed and silenced majority, but by famous and influential actors, including current and former senior politicians from across Europe, the Americas and Africa.
The Political Network for Values professes to be “a global platform of worldwide political representatives and leaders who actively promote and defend the values of family, life and freedom”. In practice, the network is one of the most skilled practitioners of using anti-gender politics to advance a wide-ranging attack on the basic tenets of liberal democracies around the world.
In the process, PNfV members have racked up political successes that other far-right groups can only dream of. Many of the summit’s speakers were politicians in their own countries, where they have already implemented anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion policies, from Brothers of Italy attacking the rights of same-sex parents, Poland’s Law and Justice tightening restrictions on abortion access, Orban’s Fidesz passing “gay propaganda” laws, and Ugandan MPs passing one of the world’s most punitive anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Others were likely future leaders; the summit was co-hosted by Patriots for Europe, whose chair, far-right MEP Jordan Bardella, is leading polls to win France’s general election next year.
Also present were PNFV members from the US, with links to the powerful lobby shaping Trump’s America First strategy. They included representatives from the Heritage Foundation, the think tank that authored the Project 2025 blueprint for Trump’s second term; the Alliance Defending Freedom, which credits itself with overturning the right to abortion in the US; and Family Watch International, which the Southern Law Poverty Centre designates a “hate group” due to its campaigning against LGBTQ+ rights in Africa.
Andrea Dip
As the latest Epstein files exposed the American far-right’s influence over Europe’s politics, members of this ultra-conservative network were openly peddling their views on the need to stand up to the “left-wing metropolitan elites” and their “LGBT agenda” from a stage in the European Parliament, while also encouraging one another to channel their funding through shadowy cryptocurrencies. This, combined with their allyship with a White House that is pulling away from the European Union and threatening NATO members, raises concerns that their movement is not just an issue for human rights, but European security.
A supposed crackdown on freedom of speech is at the heart of the Political Network for Values’ strategy – and was the main focus of its event, which was billed as a discussion on “free speech vs regulated speech”. Speakers consistently expressed paranoia that the promotion of conservative values is under attack in Europe.
“By arguing for ‘free speech’, these actors aim to distract us from the necessary legal protections we need for personal data and social media regulation,” Neil Datta, director of the European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights, told openDemocracy.
“This leaves us vulnerable to foreign disinformation aimed to alter our political choices, to polarisation and radicalisation as well as the monetisation of our personal data making us vulnerable to scams, grifts and all forms of commercial exploitation. All of this combined poses a security threat – to our social cohesion as well as to our political and economic independence.
“Far from being ‘patriotic’, these Christian right forces would like to see Europe under the vassalage of the USA and/or Russia. Their plan is simple – stop the EU from doing its job of regulating to protect Europeans and leave us vulnerable to the whims of the White House and the Tech Bros and to the imperial ambitions of the Kremlin.”
From the stage in Brussels, PNFV president and Croatian MEP Stephen Bartulica accused British prime minister Keir Starmer of imprisoning people for tweets he “does not approve of”. Father Benedict Kiely, a Catholic priest from London, claimed he might face arrest for his conservative views on returning home. Paolo Inselvini, an MEP from the ruling Brothers of Italy party, urged the network and its allies to “defend Christian values, freedom of expression and dignity of human life” in the face of the woke assault.
Inselvini also accused progressive non-governmental organisations in the EU of “trying to do away with posts that speak an uncomfortable truth, such as that children are born from a man and a woman”. This was echoed by numerous speakers who said European NGOs and Marxists are seeking to create a “dictatorship of political correctness”, an “EUSSR via regulation”, and a “Europe of lies.”
Such accusations directly mirror Trump’s National Security Strategy, which was published in November last year and accuses the EU of undermining “political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence”.
The Trumpian strategy goes on to reference the far-right ‘great replacement’ theory that claims white people in the Global North are being ‘replaced’ by immigration and low birth rates, warning of a risk that “certain NATO members will become majority non-European” in the coming years. At the Brussels summit, fears over the great replacement theory could be seen in another common theme: ‘gender ideology’.
The president of Peru’s Constitutional Court, Luz Pacheco, complained that people are unfairly accused of “homophobia” when they advocate for the family. Ugandan MP Lucy Akello warned that LGBTQ+ people are “forcing children into homosexuality” and received cheers when she claimed to have been a victim of a witch hunt over her support for Uganda’s 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act. Laws “do not kill homosexuals”, she insisted last week, overlooking the fact that the act imposed the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”.
Sian Norris
Avoiding the great replacement theory, the US National Security Strategy says, will require the White House to “prioritise cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations”. The paper reserves praise for the “patriotic European parties” that the US believes are already leading that resistance through their “growing influence”.
The shape of that resistance was further outlined by the editor-in-chief of the European Conservative magazine, Alvino Mario Fantini, who asked the audience: “Are you ready to do the work so that the culture of the Judeo-Christian West will be saved?”
Fantini put forward a three-point plan to save the West, urging audience members to “defy them, the progressive elites” and “populate the culture with your own products; build parallel institutions. Schools, yes. We need alternative universities, not just Oxford and Cambridge. They're under the control of other people [...] It’s very important to create these networks.”
The third part of the plan, Fantini said, is cryptocurrency. He encouraged attendees “to use alternative finance mechanisms to create new payment processing systems, to create crypto-funded media, to take control of how the money moves and where it is stored.
Cryptocurrencies, which are often used in criminal activity, are attractive to extremist and dark money movements because they allow for anonymity, as Fantini went on to explain. They’ve also been championed by politicians such as Trump and Nigel Farage, whose party Reform UK became the first in the country to accept donations in form of Bitcoin and who last year told a cryptocurrency conference in Las Vegas that he would cut capital gains taxes on crypto assets to 10%, from the current maximum of 24% and launch a “Bitcoin digital reserve” at the Bank of England if elected.
“Regarding blockchain [the mechanism to record crypto transactions], we need to apply it to create anonymous storage systems, to create systems that allow for private transactions and the sharing of information. We need voting mechanisms based on blockchain, and it can also be used for political mobilisation so that you can't be surveilled.”
Operation interference
As speakers like Fantini took to the stage in Brussels to complain that the world’s cultural institutions were “under control” of left-wing groups, the US Department of Justice was releasing millions more FBI documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein, which exposed how the American far right and financial elites have sought to take control of European politics.
Emails sent to and from Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 having raped and trafficked dozens of girls and young women, show the American billionaire financier was in regular communication with Trump’s former top adviser, Steve Bannon.
At the time, Bannon was seeking to recruit European political figures to his far-right project and push for a hard Brexit in the UK.
In September 2018, Bannon sent Epstein a Guardian article that begins: “Matteo Salvini, Italy’s interior minister and populist leader, has met Steve Bannon and joined the anti-European establishment group, the Movement, founded by Donald Trump’s former chief strategist.”
Epstein responded with one word of praise: “AMAZING.”
Three months later, in December 2018, as British prime minister Theresa May struggled to retain her premiership amid fierce Brexit debates, Bannon wrote: “May down; I think I can get Boris [Johnson] across the finish line.” May would announce her decision to resign just six months later, and Johnson was installed in Number 10 by July 2019.
The same conversation saw Bannon appearing to suggest he had influence over France’s far-right yellow vest protesters, many of whom were demanding president Emmanuel Macron’s resignation. In a message to Epstein, he said: “If I pull off gilets jaunes takedown of Macron; May out [...] all in 5 days”.
On another occasion, two months before the May 2019 European Parliament elections, Epstein told Bannon he was "surprised that the European parliament seemed to fall off your radar”, to which Bannon replied: “Hasn't -- just focused on raising money for [Marine] Le Pen and Salvini so they can actually run full slates.”
At the time, Le Pen was the leader of France’s far-right National Rally party, which had changed its name from Front Nationale the year before. The party is now led by Jordan Bardella, whose Patriots of Europe political group sponsored the PNFV summit.
The following month, Bannon messaged Epstein to say: “Just got off a call with my Front Nationale guys - - I think I just hit a home run on their financing!! - - may require zero loan.”
“We worked on some materials and they went out last week with solicitations,” Bannon continued, appearing to refer to helping the party put out some requests for donations. He added: “French voters now have big personal stake in the [European Parliament] elections - - unheard of.”
Within 30 seconds, Epstein replied: “Good boy.”
Later in the conversation, Epstein said: “I’m looking forward to tomorrow yellow vest luncheon.” To which Bannon responded: “They are coming out in force I think -- I need to flip these brothers to National Rally.”
“Just provide some brownshirts for them to wear,” replied Epstein, seemingly a reference to Nazi uniforms.
At the centre of every story about Epstein are the girls and women he raped, trafficked and victimised for decades, though it is also important to recognise the severity of political interference disclosed in the files. There is no evidence Epstein provided funds to any of the far-right causes that Bannon was championing in Europe, but the files are useful in assessing where the true threat to “Europe’s destiny” lies.
Since taking office last year, Trump has escalated his threats against Denmark, withdrawn aid for Ukraine, and embraced Russian president Vladimir Putin, whom he has praised, defended and even hosted at a summit in Alaska. Russia’s links to the global anti-gender movement, including the the Political Network for Values, have already been well-documented by openDemocracy and others, and the US president’s actions highlight the extent of the security concern facing Europe.
Brian Brown, a PNFV board member who was present at the Brussels summit, had close ties to Russia through his World Congress of Families movement and his directorship of CitizenGO. Both organisations have had historic links to Alexey Komov, an employee of sanctioned Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev. The latter is married to Maria Lvova-Belova, the architect of Russia’s programme to abduct Ukrainian children.
“Trump’s retrenchment and retreat from European multilateralism must be viewed within the context of his America First ideology,” said Gillian Kane from Ipas, a reproductive rights NGO.
“This ideology has been understood as isolationist but really, what Trump and his allies want to do is remove themselves from the responsibility that comes with global governance while maintaining a stranglehold through threats and manipulation. The US isn't turning away, it's just rejecting norms and forging a new way of transacting their business, which is the guiding principle of how they operate in global spaces.”
Far from the paranoia on display in Brussels on a rainy February day, it is not an authoritarian left determined to impose “a dictatorship of political correctness” on Europe’s “common man”, that is subverting and threatening European freedoms. The latest Epstein files expose how it is the US far right, in league with the world’s most famous child sex offender, that has tried to weaken European democracy and human rights.
