(Bloomberg) -- Steve Bannon helped upend the political order in the U.S. before falling out with President Donald Trump. Now he’s looking to recreate his former glories in Europe.

Bannon is planning a roadshow across half a dozen European countries this week to organize a loose alliance of populist leaders and parties in a bid to gain a bigger foothold for their policies in the European Parliament, Trump’s former strategist said in an interview.

The Brussels-based group, dubbed The Movement and founded by Belgian politician Mischael Modrikamen, plans to highlight the importance of national sovereignty, stronger borders, greater limits on migration and fighting against so-called radical Islam, all as a means to boost nationalist parties in the May parliamentary elections.

The push to unite populist forces gives urgency to concerns among some European Union leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron at the looming clash of values over the bloc’s future direction. EU leaders meeting in the Austrian city of Salzburg later on Wednesday are due to discuss two of the bloc’s existential threats, the migration crisis and Brexit, both of which serve as rallying cries for nationalists across the bloc.

“The individual parties throughout Europe are ‘woke’,” Bannon said in an interview last week in his Capitol Hill townhouse, adding that he wants enough like-minded candidates to win seats in the EU Parliament to act as a block to pro-EU groups. “Europe’s going to see an intensity and focus among the voters and the media that what is happening is basically going to be a continent-wide presidential election.”

‘Iconic Leader’

Political forces are aligning in Europe ahead of a clash over fundamental principles that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned poses questions over the EU’s future cohesion. The U.K.’s plan to quit the bloc in March, Russian aggression, democratic backsliding in eastern Europe and Trump’s “America First” agenda are all tugging at the foundation of the European project.

So far Matteo Salvini’s anti-immigrant League and the conservative Brothers of Italy are the only two groups that have officially aligned themselves with The Movement, which will offer like-minded parties -- free of charge -- polling, data analytics, messaging and so-called war room services. The group won’t be involved in selecting candidates or in imposing platforms.

But Modrikamen, 52, sees recent moves by Macron and his allies in Parliament having helped European populists. Last week’s vote in the EU assembly to censure Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban “created an iconic leader out of Orban,’’ said Modrikamen. As for Macron’s pledge to lead pro-globalist parties against the nationalists, he said, “It’s perfect for us.”

The support Bannon and Modrikamen are offering heightens the likelihood of an electoral clash in May between populist groups that have gained footholds in member states including Germany, Austria, Hungary, France and Sweden and supporters of the liberal establishment, such as Macron, Belgium’s Charles Michel, The Netherlands’ Mark Rutte and Luxembourg’s Xavier Bettel. The four Benelux leaders discussed a European strategy earlier this month to combat the rise of populism, exploring the possibility of joining forces with several European parties ahead of the elections.

“These progressive solutions that we carry are the most respectful of the values of our Europe but also the most efficient to face its challenges,” Macron said after the meeting, pointing the finger at nationalists for trying to destroy the EU. “We share the desire to have a more united and sovereign Europe. I hope we can continue to do this together.”

Founding Convention

Bannon and Modrikamen are seeking to hold a founding convention in Brussels in late November, with an eventual plan to have allies in all 27 EU countries. They doubt nationalist parties will gain a majority of seats in the EU parliament, but they would like at least a third of the seats to be able to “command by negation,” according to Bannon, allowing them to disrupt further integrationist policies.

Besides Salvini’s League, few European nationalist parties have publicly joined Bannon. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Front, which renamed itself National Rally after losing to Macron last year, has had contacts with Bannon and will “adhere to his project,” party vice-president Louis Alliot told newspaper l’Opinion Tuesday, but “we don’t know what form that will take.”

“For the first time you’ll have a real debate, a real dividing line, in a European election,’’ Modrikamen said, echoing recent language by Macron.

Modrikamen said it’s early days. He and Bannon just joined forces in June. He’s also been busy preparing for municipal council elections in Brussels Oct. 14 where his wife is a candidate. While the eventual goal is to have a dedicated staff of 10 to 15 for The Movement, none have been hired so far and he’s using his party’s six employees.

“We want to take the battle to the heart of the EU,’’ Modrikamen said in an interview at his home in a residential Brussels district that also serves as his party’s headquarters. “We want to be the voice of the ordinary guys who feel betrayed by the elites.’’

To contact the reporters on this story: Richard Bravo in Brussels at rbravo5@bloomberg.net;Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net;Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.net;Joshua Green in Washington at jgreen120@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo

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