The Radical Right in the European Parliament: Patterns of Opposition and Cooperation

The radical right party family is diverse and ever growing. In recent elections (2009, 2014), many radical right parties have entered the European Parliament (e.g. PS, PVV, SD) or have enlarged their seat share (e.g. FN, UKIP). However, the radical right does not operate as a coherent group in the European Parliament. Instead, radical right parties join different EP groups, such as the EAF, EFD, or ERC, and frequently change alliances.  

This paper investigates whether the patterns of alliance formation on the radical right can be understood by looking at these parties’ behavior in parliament. By means of roll-call and cosponsorship analysis it is examined 1) whether the various radical right groups are coherent in terms of their voting and co-sponsorship behavior, 2) whether significant differences in this behavior exist between the various radical right groups, 3) whether important changes in coherence and differences can be observed over time.