EU elections: Steve Bannon says integration is ‘dead’, as he urges right-wing parties to form ‘supergroup’ in European Parliament
- Populists and Eurosceptic parties made gains in polls but remain split on key issues
- Former Trump adviser sees France’s Le Pen as ‘the key’ to uniting various groups thanks to her defeat of Emmanuel Macron’s LREM party
![Steve Bannon poses during a photo session in Paris on Monday. Photo: AFP](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1020x680/public/d8/images/methode/2019/05/28/6707d27a-80bf-11e9-bda2-8286175bc410_image_hires_045315.jpg?itok=OT48UaIf&v=1558990403)
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon hailed election results for the European Parliament on Monday and said the idea of further European Union integration was “dead” after gains by far-right nationalist parties.
Bannon, who has sought to build links with European populist parties, also urged them to get over their differences and form a “supergroup” in the parliament in the next month.
“The integration movement, which is what the EU has always been about, is dead,” Bannon said in an interview in his €5,400-a-night (US$6,000) suite at Le Bristol hotel in Paris.
“You will not see [EU Commission President] Juncker or any of that crowd pushing for more integration. That’s the historic thing about yesterday,” added the head of US President Donald Trump’s victorious 2016 election campaign.
![French President Emmanuel Macron leaves the polling booth in Le Touquet, France, on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE French President Emmanuel Macron leaves the polling booth in Le Touquet, France, on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2019/05/28/ae2648b2-80bf-11e9-bda2-8286175bc410_1320x770_045315.jpg)
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