Pushing towards exit: Euro-rejection as a ‘populist common denominator’

Populist parties are often critical of, if not openly hostile to, the process of European integration. All populist parties present themselves as the ultimate advocates of popular sovereignty and tend to associate the EU with elitist and shady decision-making procedures, which threaten the autonomy of the ‘heartland’ the populists appeal to. In practice, however, populist parties’ position on the EU has been far from consistent. This paper aims to show how the European economic crisis could prompt a radicalisation of the Euro-sceptic discourse of populist parties across Europe. This argument is illustrated by means of two cases: Jobbik in Hungary and the Freedom Party in the Netherlands. These parties have swayed from ‘Euro-sceptic’ to ‘Euro-reject’ positions, and ‘the EU’ seems to have shifted from a secondary to a primary issue in their ideology. Through the analysis of the discourse of Jobbik and the Freedom Party, this paper argues that, despite ideological idiosyncrasies and different political contexts, populist parties currently appear to converge on a ‘common denominator’ of rejection of the EU. Moreover, a radical stance vis-à-vis the EU may boost or hinder the performance of populist parties at the national level and/or compel electoral competitors to revise their agenda. Ultimately, changes in positions over the EU issue may have consequences for the workings of national as well as EU politics.