Bannon met with Farage to discuss organizing far-right. Also Bannon met with Telelegraph owner.
Documentary footage obtained by The Guardian shows Bannon meeting with Farage to persuade him to front a global alliance of far-right leaders. The video is at the link below.
This is from 2017 -2018. Ever since Bannon has left the White House, he has been devoting time and energy to organizing far-right leaders globally, with ever stronger efforts in the lead up to this week’s EU elections. I think this is the real reason he left the White House. It’s tempting to focus on his ratty appearance and not take him seriously. But the reality is that Farage is now ahead in UK polls with his new Brexit Party and far-right politicians across the EU look like they will make gains in the European Parliament.
The Guardian notes that Farage decided not to be the front man. I would venture this is because Farage, like other far-right politicians such as Le Pen, have tried to keep Bannon at arms distance in public to maintain their nationalist credentials, even while they benefit from his maneuvers and funding to assist them in winning.
Some areas that stood out for me about this:
Bannon listing string of names of worldwide far-right leaders with whom he’s been working.
Bannon’s offer of funding: “We’ll - I’ll fund it somehow.”
Bannon has been funneling a lot of money into European Parliament election efforts.
How much? From where? These are questions that need to be answered.
Farage refers to a secretive meeting that Bannon has set with Frederick Barclay, who owns the UK’s Telegraph. Wonder what they discussed and how many other press owners Bannon has met with in Europe.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/22/nigel-farage-discussed-fronting-far-right-group-led-by-steve-bannon
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In one clip, they discussed arrangements for a private meeting at the Ritz between Bannon and Frederick Barclay, the co-owner of the hotel and the Telegraph newspapers. Farage told Bannon to use a special side entrance at the hotel, stressing it was a “very very private way of doing things”.
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Sources close to both men said Farage, who has had a sometimes fractious relationship with European counterparts such as Marine Le Pen in France, ultimately chose to keep the Movement at arm’s length.
However, the footage illustrates Farage’s close links to populist and far-right parties whose policies and priorities could seem notably different from the more inclusive image he has tried to project for the Brexit party, which is leading in polls for Thursday’s European elections.
Edit to add:
https://www.dw.com/en/what-are-the-powers-of-the-european-parliament/a-4295011
What are the powers of the European Parliament?
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the EU. It exercises the legislative function of the EU, affecting the lives of the 510 million people living in the 28-member bloc.
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LEGISLATIVE POWERS: The ordinary legislative procedure gives the same weight to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on a wide range of issues such as economic governance, immigration, energy, transport, the environment and consumer protection.
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BUDGETARY POWERS: Parliament and the Council of the European Union together constitute the EU's budgetary authority, which decides each year on its expenditures and revenues.
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OVERSIGHT POWERS: The European Parliament has major supervisory powers over the European Commission and the Presidency of the Council.
Parliament can dismiss the Commission which needs to submit regular reports, annual legislative programs and reports on the implementation of the budget.
