Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon is on a tour through Central Europe, defending populism and nationalism on the continent.
ADVERTISEMENTSteve Bannon, the controversial former Trump campaign manager and advisor is touring Europe. This week, he stopped in Hungary to give a speech entitled “Trump’s America First and its impact on Central Europe.”
Euronews sat down with Bannon for an interview about the main political issues affecting Europe at the moment, and to understand what he hopes to achieve in the future.
Bryan Carter: You’ve spoken about a brave new world. Can you paint me a picture of where Europe, the European Union, will be in 10-20 years from now.
Steve Bannon: It will be a collection of nations.
Bryan Carter: So no more European Union?
Steve Bannon: No, no, no, I think the European Union will still be around, but I think it was going on a path of being like the United States, where these nation-states kind of gave up their total nationhood, and were part of some barren organization. And I think what you are seeing today when I say brave new world I think you're going to have, number 1, with populism, you are going to have people with much more control of their sovereignty and their citizenship, and I think in nationalism, what you are going to have is a collection of robust nations, you're going to have a robust Hungary and Czech Republic and Germany and France, and I think it's terrific. I think people are going to actually have more direct control on their countries.
During the interview, Bannon spoke at length about his admiration for Donald Trump and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, while often attacking the media and what he calls the global elite.
The former Trump adviser also praised the newly formed government of Italy, saying that the alliance between the anti-establishment five-star movement and the far-right League was an example of how populism can shape the future of politics.