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RadicalandPopulistEuroscepticPartiesatthe2014EuropeanElections
However,despitetheirelectoralsuccess,suchpartieshavesofarhad
averylimitedimpactatthesupranationallevel.Thisisduetoacombination
ofthreemainfactors,theheterogeneityoftheseparties,thestrategiesthey
developinsidetheEP,andtherulesandnormsoftheinstitutions.
First,asmentioned,rightwingEuroscepticpartiesarecharacterisedby
ahighlevelofheterogeneity.14Asaresult(butalsotakingintoaccountthe
conflictinglogicofnationalisttransnationalcooperation),theyareunableto
formonelargehardEuroscepticgroup,despitetheattemptsofsomeparties
suchastheFN,andtheyarecurrentlyscatteredbetweentheEFDDandthe
non-attached(exceptfortheFinnsPartyandtheDanishPeople’sParty,which
arenowpartoftheECR).Thereisinformalcoordinationamongmostofthe
partiesthataremembersoftheEuropeanAllianceforFreedom,andthereis
awilltomeetthecriteriatoformagroupintheEP,butsofarmostradical
rightmembersarenon-attached.Thismeansthattheyhavefewerrightsand
opportunitiestobeinvolvedinandinfluenceparliamentarywork.Other
radicalandpopulistEuroscepticpartiesarefoundintheEFDDgroup,which
potentiallygivesthemmoreopportunitiestoinfluencethedecision-making
process(throughtheirparticipationintheConferenceofthePresidents,for
instance).Butthegroupallowsitsmemberscompletefreedomtovoteas
theyseefit.Asaresult,ithasthelowestcohesionofallgroupsintheEP,
onaverage50%inthefirstyearoftheparliamentaryterm.Moreover,itis
rarelyamongthemajority.Onlyin23%ofcaseshastheEFDDbeenpartof
awinningcoalitionintheEP.
Second,MEPsfromradicalandpopulistEuroscepticpartiestendto
choosean“emptychair”strategy,ortoremaininnoisybutfutileopposition.
Indeed,someofthemprefernottobeinvolvedintheEPatall,andto
concentrateonthenationallevelinordertocampaignagainsttheEU.Others
ratherchooseastrategyofnoisyopposition,focusingonspeechesinthe
plenaryandseekingtoattractalotofpublicitythroughradicalandanti-
conformistattitudesandbehaviour.Asaresult,theyarenotinvolvedin
thetraditionalaspectsofparliamentarywork(suchascommittees,reports,
andamendments),andhavetenserelationswiththeircolleaguesfromthe
14
S.Vasilopoulou,“VarietiesofEuroscepticism:TheCaseoftheEuropeanExtremeRight,”
JournalofContemporaryEuropeanResearch,vol.5,no.1,2009,pp.3-23.
ThePolishQuarterlyofInternationalAffairs,2015,no.2
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