Heritage Foundation exports ‘Project 2025’ playbook to right-wing allies in Europe

The Heritage Foundation, known as the institution that wrote the political program for a potential second Donald Trump term, is strengthening the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement in Europe.

The intellectual engine behind the 922-page Project 2025, which has become the primary policy guide for a second Trump term, the Heritage Foundation is collaborating with a series of European nationalist-right movements to export its own agenda to counter “progressive” policies.

According to a report in POLITICO, this collaboration included a conference held in late October in Rome, at the fresco-adorned home of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The event focused on the idea that Europe’s demographic crisis and falling birth rates 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 US; Italy’s anti-abortion family minister, Eugenia Roccella; the vice president of the Senate; and members of Italian right-wing think tanks.

Severino and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts have also appeared as speakers at summits and meetings of right-wing groups in the European Parliament (EP), such as the Patriots for Europe (PfE), which includes Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) and Italy’s Lega party, under the slogan “Make Europe Great Again” (MEGA).

According to POLITICO, Heritage representatives have also held private meetings in Washington and Brussels with parliamentarians from far-right parties in Hungary, Czechia, Spain, France, and Germany.

Parliamentary records show the group held seven meetings with EP members in the last 12 months alone, a significant increase compared to the single meeting held in the previous five years.

They have also held other meetings that were not officially reported, including with three members of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) party.

Severino told POLITICO that the meetings with European right-wing figures were for exchanging ideas.

However, these meetings represent more than just courtesy calls. For European politicians, they are a way to access those in Trump’s orbit.

For Heritage, it is a way to expand its sphere of influence beyond Washington and achieve its ideological goals, which have become increasingly aligned with Trump’s MAGA approach under Roberts’s leadership.

Mike Gonzalez of Heritage stated that by meeting with conservative parties, they share experiences in dealing with common challenges and are “comparing notes.”

Noting that their speakers have seen “a lot of interest” in policies related to abortion, gender theory, defense, and China, Gonzalez added that some parts of Project 2025, such as the chapter he wrote on defunding public broadcasters, are “very easily translatable” to Europe.

Gonzalez mentioned that the foundation has been active in Europe for years but said demand has increased since Trump returned to the political scene. He argued that European right-wing leaders “see Trump and what he’s done and say, ‘I want some of that.’”

This is not the first attempt to mobilize the European right with the MAGA movement. Trump’s former strategist, Steve Bannon, tried to unite populist nationalist parties under his think tank, The Movement, in 2019 but failed because he could not secure the support of the parties themselves.

Some observers are skeptical that this new initiative will yield a different outcome. EJ Fagan, a political science professor at the University of Illinois and author of the book on partisan think tanks, The Thinkers, said, “I’m skeptical that this initiative will have a big result. Right-wing parties in Europe have their own policymaking resources, so there’s not much Heritage can offer to parties in Europe.”

On the other hand, the growing strength of similar movements is noteworthy. In Italy, two parliamentarians have introduced a bill that would grant human status to the fetus, which would make abortion impossible.

The Lazio regional government is preparing to approve a law that would guarantee the protection of the fetus “from conception,” similar to an initiative in the US.

Meloni’s family minister, Roccella, who was seen with Severino last month, is trying to block a regional law that prohibits conscientious objectors from serving in clinics that perform abortions.

Moreover, the issue is not just about reproductive rights. The Meloni government withdrew from the memorandum of understanding related to the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s ambitious program to finance over $1 trillion in infrastructure investments. This decision effectively blocked the Chinese telecom giant Huawei from participating in telecommunications development.

Lucio Malan, a member of parliament from Meloni’s party and a panelist at two conferences organized with the Heritage Foundation, has tried to repeal a ban on homophobic and sexist advertising.

Heritage and its allies in the Trump administration stand to benefit greatly from the strengthening nationalist parties in Europe. These parties also advocate for delaying climate and agricultural regulations and side with the US and major tech companies on digital regulations.

Earlier this year, Heritage hosted a presentation of proposals from two right-wing European think tanks, Hungary’s Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) and Poland’s Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture, to reorganize the EU and weaken the European Commission and the European Court of Justice.

Heritage’s activities in Europe come after the organization faced a series of controversies at home, with Roberts siding with right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson, who was criticized for interviewing a white nationalist. This incident sparked an open rebellion against Roberts, who later apologized.

There is another good reason for Heritage to focus specifically on Europe: the continent has become a focal point for the group’s US donors and activists, who are concerned about the perceived “Islamization and leftist politics” on the continent.

“It is in our existential interest for Europe to be sovereign, free, and strong,” said Gonzalez.

However, Nicola Procaccini, an EP member from Meloni’s party who has held several meetings with Heritage, rejected the idea that the foundation poses a threat to the “rule of law” or European politics.

Procaccini stated that he had not read Project 2025 and argued that while the group has a long history in economic policy, this changed during the Trump era as the group’s new president, Roberts, moved closer to Trump.

“You can share their views or not… but Heritage is certainly a voice to be reckoned with,” the Italian lawmaker said.