EUROPEAN POLITICAL FIGURES ENDORSING TRUMP

Heads of state and government

Current

• Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary 

Former

• Edgar Savisaar, Estonian politician, Member of Parliament, former Mayor of  Tallinn, former Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications, former Minister of the Interior, former acting Prime Minister, and leader of the Estonian Centre Party.

National ministers and secretaries

• Vojislav Seselj, Serbian politician, Member of Parliament, former Deputy Prime Minister, founder and president of the far-right Serbian Radical Party.
• Iain Duncan Smith, British politician, Member of Parliament, former Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, former leader of the Conservative Party, and former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Members of national and supranational parliaments

• Kenneth Kristensen Berth, Danish politician, Member of Parliament, member of the national conservative Danish People's Party.
• Gilbert Collard, French politician, Member of Parliament, member of the Rassemblement bleu Marine coalition
• Filip Dewinter, Belgian politician, FlemishMember of Parliament and member of the Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang party
• Ulf Leirstein, Norwegian politican, Member of Parliament, and member of the conservative-liberal Progress Party.
• Ilias Panagiotaros, Greek politician, Member of Parliament, and member of the far-right Golden Dawn party
• David Rachline, French politician, Senator, former Mayor of Fréjus, and member of the nationalist Front National

Regional ministers, legislators, and party leaders

Current

• Henry de Lesquen, French politician, president of the Club de l’Horloge national conservative think tank, founder and president of the National Liberal Party, and candidate for President in 2017
• Ireneusz Jablonski (Pokand), Polish politician, Deputy Mayor of Lodz, former Mayor of Lowicz, and member of the libertarian conservative Real Politics Union.
• Janusz Korwin-Mikke, Polish politician, Member of the European Paliament, leader of the right-libertarian Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic-Liberty and Hope.
• Marine Le Pen, French politician, Member of the European Parliament, and leader of the nationalist Front National
• Robert Ménard, French politician and independent Mayor of Béziers (supported by Front National)
• Mischaël Modrikamen, Belgian politician and leader of the national conservative People’s Party
• Tomio Okamura, Czech politician, [Parliament of the Czech Republic|Member of Parliament], and leader of the nationalist Freedom and Direct Democracy party
• Matteo Salvini , Italian politician, Member of the European Parliament, and leader of the regionalist Lega Nord.
• Tom Van Grieken, Belgian politician, Flemish Member of Parliament, and leader of the Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang party.
• Geert Wilders, Dutch politician, Member of Parliament, and leader of the nationalist Party for Freedom.

Former

• Nigel Farage , British politician, former leader of the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party.
• Carl I. Hagen, Norwegian politician, former Member of Parliament, former leader of the conservative-liberal Progress Party, former Vice President of the Norwegian Parliament
• Jean-Marie Le Pen, French politician, Member of the European Parliament, founder and former leader of the nationalist Front National

The handful of politicians and groups who have voiced admiration for Trump represent the most controversial of Europe’s conservative, populist and nationalist movements. The emergence of  these parties has been driven by the growing importance of immigration as a political issue, nurtured by a feeling that the European Union has become unresponsive to the will of the people. These nationalist politicians have been pushed into prominence by the long economic stagnation that’s followed the 2008 financial crisis. They draw their support from globalization’s losers—working-class voters who feel squeezed between an elite that doesn’t have their interests at heart and a growing class of immigrants they worry doesn’t share their values. It’s people who feel that liberal democracy has failed them.They feel abandoned, and they’re ready to explore other options.

Trump’s rhetoric bears some similarities to the populist, anti-immigration attitude of parties such as the National Front or Poland’s conservative Law and Justice party. Like Trump, analysts say, these parties have dragged the political debate in countries across Europe to the right by attempting to mainstream ethno-nationalist, anti-immigration views. The refugee and migrant crisis, along with economic turmoil, has contributed to some of these parties becoming powerful actors in their countries’ politics in recent years.  

However, even among Europe’s far-right political platforms, few politicians publicly support the leading U.S. Republican Party’s presidential candidate. Often the Europeans have characterized Trump’s plans as too extreme. Figures like Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson whose party started in the late 1980s as a white supremacist group have openly opposed a Trump presidency. 

For now, the far right in Europe seems to be watching Trump's rise with a mixture of surprise and bewilderment – and perhaps more than a little jealousy.