How America’s far-right is building influence inside the European Union

Opinion euUnited Statesusa How America’s far-right is building influence inside the European Union Relevant News How America’s far-right is building influence inside the European Union 27 August 2026 New 900-tonne aid shipment for Gaza leaves Cyprus 27 August 2026 Kalo Chorio alert lifted after first shell defused, second inert 27 August 2026 Theodosis Pipis 27 August 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Throughout Donald Trump’s second presidency, prominent members of his administration have increasingly described migration to Europe in terms of an “invasion.” During a visit to France marking the eighty-second anniversary of D-Day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that Europe was being “invaded” by migrants. Speaking near the beaches of Normandy, Hegseth drew a comparison between the Allied landings and the arrival of migrants on European shores. He argued that “different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” referring to boats carrying refugees reaching the coasts of Spain, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria. He questioned when European governments would take action against what he called this “invasion,” suggesting that it might already be too late. Trump has also repeatedly used similar rhetoric. Visiting Scotland in a 2025 golf trip to, he described immigration as an “invasion” that was “killing Europe.” He has also made claims that cities such as Paris and London have been overwhelmed by criminal migrants, suggesting that they have brought sharia law into European communities and established “no-go zones” where even police are supposedly unwilling to enter. European governments have consistently rejected these accusations, and there is good reason to do so. Regulating migration has been high on the EU’s agenda. In June the EU passed on of its strictest and most controversial laws surrounding migration, allowing return hubs outside the bloc and home searches, as conservatives voted with far-right groups to pass the legislation. These hubs could serve either as transit facilities, where people await return to their country of origin, or as locations where migrants remain for an extended period, potentially without a time limit or guarantee of onward return. Only unaccompanied minors would be exempt from the measure, while families with children could be transferred to the hubs. However, there is another invasion happening in Europe, one that is coming from the American far-right. Rather than crossing Europe’s shores by boat, these forces are entering through financial support, political platforms, media influence, and personnel. The Paris-based NGO BLOOM has identified and mapped what it calls a transatlantic network of far-right, conservative, and reactionary organisations working together to weaken the foundations of the European democratic project. According to BLOOM, this network brings together American and European “think tanks, foundations, political parties, government bodies and transatlantic platforms.” Although these groups publicly focus on topics such as economic competitiveness, free speech and free trade, BLOOM argues that their broader objective is to transform Europe’s “political, regulatory and intellectual landscape.” Ultimately, the organisation claims, they seek to promote a Europe that is more “illiberal, conservative, deregulated, splintered” and less committed to its existing democratic framework. One such example is the Alliance Defending Freedom which has pursued legal challenges in the United States against abortion rights and policies promoting gender equality. BLOOM’s investigation states that the organisation is also registered in Brussels as an “active lobby,” where it seeks to influence these issues within the European Parliament. The America First Policy Institute, founded in 2021, was another key organisation involved in shaping the framework for Donald Trump’s second term, working alongside the Heritage Foundation. As part of its push to build international alliances, the institute supports stricter immigration policies in Europe. It argues that tighter controls are necessary to address what it describes as the “negative consequences of illegal immigration,” including violent crime and social conflict that it attributes to an insufficiently assimilated population. The European side of this network includes organisations such as the Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest, the Ordo Iuris Institute in Warsaw, and New Direction: the Foundation for European Conservatism, headquartered in Brussels. The Mathias Corvinus Collegium has become an important part of what BLOOM describes as the far right’s intellectual infrastructure. The organisation had received substantial public funding under Viktor Orbán’s government. Following Orbán’s defeat in Hungary’s 2026 parliamentary elections, his successor, Péter Magyar, promised to withdraw state funding from the institution and sever its connections with CPAC. Magyar argued that the government should never have funded the organisation, calling the decision to do so “a crime.” A 2021 investigation by Balkan Insight found that the Ordo Iuris Institute has strong connections to Poland’s far-right political parties and has been instrumental in advancing anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ legislation. The organisation also maintains partnerships with several conservative European groups, including the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, as well as the US-based right-wing advocacy organisation Center for Family and Human Rights. BLOOM’s investigation identifies New Direction and its political backers, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), as potentially the most influential forces within the broader conservative and far-right alliance linking Europe and the United States. Publicly, the organisation promotes familiar themes associated with the far right, presenting itself as an advocate for national movements that support the rule of law, traditional values, free markets, and national sovereignty. The significance of these network does not lie in a single command centre directing European politics. Its power is more diffuse: money flows between organisations, ideas circulate through think tanks and conferences, politicians establish relationships, and institutions cultivate the next generation of activists and policymakers. What emerges is less a centrally controlled movement than an increasingly dense infrastructure through which American and European conservatives can influence one another. In practice this could mean that the European Parliament is increasingly under-fire by an Americanised conservative battalion which could soon have the power to pass legislation. Taken together, these developments give Hegseth’s words a different meaning. Europe may indeed be facing an invasion, but not the one he described. The threat is not migrants arriving on European shores, but the growing influence of the very ideological forces Hegseth and his allies represent. The question, then, is the same one Hegseth posed: when will European capitals act against this invasion? Or is it already too late? Read more: When the centre looks right: Europe’s changing political balance Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News New 900-tonne aid shipment for Gaza leaves Cyprus Kalo Chorio alert lifted after first shell defused, second inert David Bowie, ABBA and Rod Stewart: three music legends with surprising links to Cyprus Shipping traffic through Strait of Hormuz rises slightly, data shows Climate change boosted risk of devastating Himalayan flood, experts say Six consequences of six months of war in Iran Flash flood causes widespread destruction in northern Nepal Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.