U.S. state department offers grants to back nationalist groups in Europe

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U.S. grants for European nationalists

Highlights

U.S. State Department offers $1mn–$3mn grants, with nearly $5mn total, to European groups addressing sovereignty, migration, censorship, and lawfare.
Washington's policy supports populist and nationalist European figures, including Viktor Orbán and Alternative for Germany, to counter UK's and EU's speech regulations.
Despite U.S. backing, Orbán lost Hungary's April election after energy prices surged due to the Iran war, highlighting mixed outcomes from nationalist support.

Grant programme targets speech and sovereignty agenda

As first reported by the Financial Times, the U.S. state department is inviting applications for grants of $1mn to $3mn from European civil society groups, non-governmental organisations, educational institutions and for-profit entities. The funding is aimed at projects that address national sovereignty, migration, censorship and lawfare challenges while promoting what the notice describes as a shared Western civilisational heritage.

A state department notice says almost $5mn is available and that the money is expected to be distributed to two or three recipients. The notice argues that supranational institutions and governments are using state power through broad hate-speech laws and online content rules to suppress speech and political participation.

The department does not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson previously tells the Financial Times that it does not and will not fund political parties in Europe or elsewhere.

Policy shift deepens pressure on Europe

Washington’s grant offer fits into a wider effort by U.S. officials during Donald Trump’s second term to challenge European policy on online speech and national sovereignty. U.S. officials accuse the UK and the EU of limiting freedom of expression as they pursue tighter regulation of hate speech and digital platforms.

The administration also seeks to support populist and nationalist figures in Europe, including Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and members of Germany’s Alternative for Germany. Its national security strategy, released last year, calls for cultivating resistance to Europe’s current direction and warns of civilisational decline tied to migration, lower birth rates and the transfer of sovereignty to Brussels.

That support has produced mixed political results. Nationalist leaders in Europe reassess their ties to the Trump administration after the Iran war drives up global energy prices, and Orbán loses office despite endorsements from Trump and Vice-president JD Vance ahead of Hungary’s closely watched April election.

Our earlier article on the STOP Child Care Fraud Act covered how Senate Republicans are pushing to tighten verification and reporting rules for the Child Care and Development Block Grant to curb misuse of federal funds. It also described the HELP Committee’s broader review of alleged fraud in federally supported child care programs and how that scrutiny is being translated into proposed legislation.

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