Politics

Europe's Crisis of Confidence Opens Door to Bannon-Style Chaos

Steve Bannon had a front-row seat to see Belgium’s liberal-led government disintegrate last month after delivering a fiery, anti-migration speech to local lawmakers just hours earlier.

President Donald Trump’s former adviser is now eying Spain as the next domino to fall in his drive to disrupt European integration.

Belgium joins two other European Union members operating without a full government and at least six others that have recently undergone no-confidence votes. Many of them have fallen prey to anti-EU parties that used minority leverage in their national parliaments. In Spain, the nationalist group Vox had an unexpectedly strong regional showing last month and could help to unseat the Socialist government.

“This populist-nationalist revolt is a worldwide phenomenon,’’ Bannon said in a Dec. 21 interview in his Washington home. “Belgium is the latest example of this,’’ he said, adding that Spain will be a “big focus” this year.