Radical Right Populists Inside and Outside the European Parliament

Abstract

This chapter analyses whether radical right populist parties in the European Parliament groups worked together, and the extent to which they were engaged in the EP’s legislative decision-making process. It then looks at the public face of the groups outside parliament, by investigating through press releases whether (and how) the parties sought to use their alliances and fellow group members in national election campaigns. It also examines the patterns of public events staged by the groups and their connected “Europarties” to see whether they actively promoted their alliances. Finally, the chapter discusses changes in the groups’ composition over the course of the 2014-19 legislature, focusing on the Sweden Democrats’ July 2018 decision to leave the EFDD and join the ECR.