American far-right political figure Steve Bannon, who was instrumental in Donald Trump’s election as US President and was briefly part of his administration, has stirred concerns among mainstream political parties in Germany.

Bannon, who served as Trump’s Chief Strategist from January until August 2017, has made clear his plans to try to influence the 2019 EU elections.

The former investment banker and leader of the American far-right site Breitbart now intends to establish a far right think tank which will likely be based in Brussels, according to the The Daily Beast.

Bannon’s project is going to launch a conservative campaign against the EU called “The Movement” ahead of the 2019 elections for the European Parliament.

The former Trump aide is a known adversary of the European Union who has supported the UK’s Brexit, and worked with many of Europe’s recently emerging far-right parties such as France’s National Front and the Alternative for Germany (AfG).

While AfD has turned down electoral campaign help of Bannon’s foundation, in March 2018, its co-chair Alice Weidel met with him during a conference in Switzerland and sought his advice, German state-run new service DW reports.

Weidel has described the seemingly anti-EU plans of the former Trump aide as “exciting and ambitious”.

Bannon’s intention to set up a populist right-wing organization in Brussels has now worried German politicians from all major mainstream political parties in the country.

“[Bannon’s plans for Europe are] a frontal attack on the EU and European values,” the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) is quoted as saying.

“We have to fight now, with good arguments, confident and true,” said in turn Michael Roth, a lawmaker from the center-left German Social Democratic Party (SPD), and minister of state for Europe told Die Welt newspaper in an interview.

“[Europe shouldn’t] be afraid of nationalist campaigns with which Mr. Bannon would like to force Europe to its knees…our values are stronger than his hate and his lies,” Roth added.

Florian Hahn of the center-right Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), also raised alarm over the plans of the former Trump aide in an interview for the same newspaper.

Hahn cautioned that Bannon’s potential influence in the 2019 European elections should be “taken seriously.”

He urged the entire European Union to be vigilant “against any inadmissible external electoral interference.”

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