The
Heritage Foundation goes from MAGA to MEGA — Make Europe Great Again
On the
agenda: pro-natalism, freedom of expression, opposing trans rights and fighting
Chinese influence.
November
10, 2025 4:01 am CET
By Hannah
Roberts
ROME —
The conservative think tank behind Donald Trump’s Project 2025 roadmap is
looking for new friends across the Atlantic.
The
Heritage Foundation, the intellectual engine behind the 922-page blueprint that
has become the key policy manual for Trump’s second term, is partnering with a
constellation of European nationalist far-right movements to export its
playbook for countering progressive policies.
That
included a conference in late October at the frescoed former home of late
premier Silvio Berlusconi in Rome focused on Europe’s demographic crisis and
the idea that falling birthrates pose a threat to Western civilization.
Speakers included Roger Severino, Heritage’s vice president of domestic policy
and the architect of the group’s campaign to roll back abortion access in the
U.S., as well as Italy’s pro-life family minister Eugenia Roccella, the deputy
speaker of the Senate, and members of Italian right-wing think tanks.
Severino
and the Heritage Foundation’s president, Kevin Roberts, have also been speaking
guests at summits and assemblies of far-right groups such as Patriots for
Europe, which includes Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National and Italy’s
League, under a Make Europe Great Again banner.
Meanwhile
Heritage representatives have held private meetings in Washington and Brussels
with lawmakers from far-right parties in Hungary, Czechia, Spain, France and
Germany. Just in the past 12 months, the group held seven meetings with members
of the European Parliament, compared to just one in the five years prior,
according to Parliament records. And they’ve had additional meetings with MEPs
that weren’t formally reported, including with three members from Italian Prime
Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party.
Severino
told POLITICO that meetings with the European right serve to exchange ideas.
But the meetings signal more than pleasantries. For European politicians,
they’re a way to get access to people in Trump’s orbit. For Heritage, they’re a
way to extend influence beyond Washington and achieve its ideological goals,
which under Roberts have grown increasingly aligned with Trump’s MAGA approach.
Mike
Gonzalez, a senior fellow at Heritage, said he meets with conservative parties
to share experience in dealing with common challenges — “comparing notes, that
kind of thing.” He said his interlocutors are “very interested” in policies on
abortion, gender theory, defense and China, adding that parts of Project 2025
such as a section he wrote on defunding public broadcasters, are “very
transferable” to Europe.
The
foundation has been active in Europe for years, he points out, but demand has
increased since Trump’s return to office. European right-wing leaders, Gonzalez
said, “see Trump and what he is doing and say, ‘I want to get me some of
that.’”
Better
the second time
It’s not
the first time MAGA has attempted to galvanize the European right. Trump’s
former strategist Steve Bannon unsuccessfully tried to unite populist
nationalist parties under the Movement think tank in 2019, hamstrung by a lack
of buy-in from the parties themselves.
Some
observers are doubtful this renewed push will go differently. “I’m skeptical
that it will amount to much,” said EJ Fagan, an associate politics professor at
the University of Illinois and author of The Thinkers, a book on partisan think
tanks. “The European right have their own resources that produce policies, so
there’s not a lot Heritage can provide to European parties.”
That is
especially an issue, Fagan noted, when it comes to finessing legislation, since
Heritage doesn’t have a deep bench of “people who have a fine understanding of
laws and treaties” in Europe.
But the
Heritage Foundation’s European mission comes as far-right groups gain ground
across Europe by tapping public frustration over issues such as immigration,
climate policy and sovereignty and pushing policies that are similar to those
laid out in the group’s Project 2025 agenda.
In Italy,
two MPs have proposed legislation granting fetal personhood, which would make
abortion impossible. The regional government in Lazio is preparing to approve a
law that would guarantee protection of the fetus “from conception,” echoing a
similar push in the US. And Rocella, Meloni’s family minister who appeared last
month with Heritage’s Severino, is attempting to block a regional law banning
conscientious objectors from roles in clinics providing abortions.
It’s not
just reproductive rights. Meloni’s government has pulled out of a memorandum of
understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese government’s
ambitious program that aims to finance over $1 trillion in infrastructure
investments. It effectively blocked Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from being a
part in telecommunications development.
Lucio
Malan, an MP in Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party and a panelist at two
conferences organized with the Heritage Foundation, attempted to reverse a ban
on homophobic and sexist advertisements — though he told POLITICO he took part
in the events on the invitation of the center-right FareFuturo think tank,
which co-organized the events with Heritage.
Heritage
and its allies in the Trump administration have everything to gain from
stronger nationalist parties in Europe, which are also pushing for delays in
climate and agriculture regulations and sided with the US and Big Tech on
digital regulation. Earlier this year, Heritage hosted the presentation of
proposals by two far-right European think tanks, Hungary’s Mathias Corvinus
Collegium (MCC) and Poland’s Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture, to
overhaul and hollow out the EU, undermining the commission and the European
Court of Justice.
And
Heritage’s activity in Europe comes as the organization faces a swirl of
controversy back home after Roberts sided with right-wing political commentator
Tucker Carlson over criticism for interviewing a white nationalist. The
incident triggered an open revolt against Roberts, who subsequently apologized.
The
unexpectedly swift and wide-ranging implementation of Project 2025 in the U.S.
has boosted Heritage’s credentials in Europe, said Kenneth Haar of Corporate
Europe Observatory, a non-profit that monitors lobbying in the EU. “Trump’s
wholesale adoption of their agenda has given them unparalleled status,” he
said. Now, Haar added, Heritage “is not just a think tank from the U.S., it is
a representative of the MAGA coalition. It is not an exaggeration to say they
are carrying out foreign policy on behalf of the president.”
For
Heritage, there’s good reason to focus on Europe in particular: It has become a
focal point for the group’s donors and activists in the U.S., who fret about
perceived Islamicization and leftist politics on the continent.
“We have
an existential interest in having Europe be sovereign and free and strong,”
Gonzalez told POLITICO.
A
rallying point
Historically,
Europe’s right has struggled to cooperate, with different factions representing
conflicting national interests. But the machinery underpinning Trump’s
reelection, and his ability to move national policy in European capitals, has
shifted those dynamics, making Heritage “a factor in uniting the European
right,” Haar said.
“MAGA has
become a rallying point, the European right is meeting more frequently,” he
added. Trump’s support for their policies also gives them more “clout” in
Europe, he said, as Europe’s leaders seek favor from Trump and his allies
across a range of issues, including tariffs.
Transparency
activists said that they’re seeing a notable uptick in activity that suggests
Heritage is gaining traction beyond symposiums and events.
Raphaël
Kergueno, Senior Policy Officer at Transparency International, a NGO advocating
against undue political influence, said the group’s activities — including
those undeclared meetings with MEPs, which may put those members in breach of
the European Parliament’s code of conduct — underscores the weakness of
European rules on lobbying and advocacy.
“The
Heritage Foundation has pushed blatantly anti-democratic projects, and is now
free to court MEPs without disclosing its goals or funding,” he said. “If the
EU does not clean up its act, it will allow hostile actors to import
authoritarianism through the backdoor.”
But
Nicola Procaccini, an MEP in Meloni’s party who has held several meetings with
Heritage, dismissed the idea that Heritage presents a danger to the rule of law
or to European politics. He said he has not read Project 2025, and pointed to
the group’s long history as an economic policy powerhouse — though that has
changed in the Trump era, as the group’s new head Roberts has pivoted closer to
Trump.
Nevertheless,
he said, “You can share or not share their views … but Heritage is certainly an
authoritative voice.”
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