The ‘pure polish people’ vs the ‘European elite’ – how do populism and Euroscepticism interact in Polish politics?

ABSTRACTThere is a notable correlation between Eurosceptic and populist political actors, discourses and agendas across Europe. Since 2015, the ongoing conflict between Poland and the European Commission concerning the rule of law has brought European integration to the centre of Polish politics. The main focus of this article is on the relationship and interaction between populism and Euroscepticism, as analysed through the example of Polish political parties. To this end, the article investigates the different forms of EU contestation by Polish populist right-wing parties and assesses the extent to which these are expressed through populist discourse. We find a strong correlation between populist and Eurosceptic attitudes of Polish political parties. With the growing number of populist parties entering the mainstream and ‘uncivil society’ actors transforming into political parties, the anti-elitist discourse generates a need to locate the ‘corrupted elites’ outside of the national power structures.KEYWORDS: PopulismEuroscepticismpolitical partiesPolanduncivil society Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. The chapter is the result of the authors work within the project of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 822682. It reflects only the authors view and the Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.2. Later events, such as the Belarusian border crisis and the war in Ukraine, have further impacted the narratives on Poland’s place in Europe, but fall outside of the timeframe covered in this study.Additional informationFundingThe work was supported by the Horizon 2020 [822682].