Forty years of populism in the European Parliament

Luca Manucci

doi:10.52224/21845263/rev35a2

Abstract

In May 2019, the elections for the European Parliament (EP) saw populist parties obtain almost a third of the available seats, with populist radical right parties making the biggest gains compared to the 2014 elections. Despite the results were less resounding than some predictions anticipated, a considerable amount of Members of the EP represent a populist party. This article first presents the performance of populist parties in forty years of EP elections, from their first occurrence in 1979 until 2019, and then focuses on populist radical right parties. The analysis suggests that (i) the number of seats occupied by populist parties in the EP continues to grow over time; (ii) right-wing populist parties no longer struggle to form political groups within the EP; (iii) radical right populist parties have become the most common type of populist party within the EP.

Highlights

Looking at forty years of elections for the European Parliament (EP), one of the most striking phenomena that took place is the constant growth of populist parties in terms of their overall number, electoral performance, and number of seats they occupy
The story of populism in the European Parliament mirrors the story of populism across the European Union (EU) member states in the last four decades and shows that populism is no longer an exception: it moved from the fringes to the mainstream
Fidesz decided to leave the European People’s Party (EPP) right before being expelled, but the problems posed by this conflict will characterise the relationship between the European Union and populist radical right (PRR) parties in the years: where to draw a line between the EU core values and the authoritarian, illiberal tendencies that parties like Fidesz promote?

Summary

Introduction

Looking at forty years of elections for the European Parliament (EP), one of the most striking phenomena that took place is the constant growth of populist parties in terms of their overall number, electoral performance, and number of seats they occupy. This phenomenon is not surprising since populist parties grew in national elections during the same period, but it is significant because their growing influence poses serious questions about the European Union (EU), its common identity, its principles, and its future. The structure of competition that characterises the EP elections is increasingly based on trust or distrust toward the EU, a division that has become

This paper is part of the project “POPULUS

Three phases of European populism

Findings

Conclusions