United in Opposition? the Populist Radical Right’s Response to the European Crisis

Populist radical right (PRR) parties are typically critical of the process of European integration. They present themselves as the ultimate advocates of popular sovereignty; tend to associate the EU with elitist and shady decision-making procedures; and ultimately consider European integration a threat to national sovereignty. In practice, however, PRR parties’ positions on the EU have varied across countries. In our paper we explore whether the European economic crisis, and the supposed rise in public Euroscepticism, has provided PRR parties with an incentive to become more united in their opposition to European integration. We assess the impact of the crisis on the EU-related discourse of PPR parties in five cases: Belgium, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Slovakia. Through the analysis of the diverging structural and political opportunities in these countries, this article shows that PRR parties have reacted in distinctive ways to the crisis in general, and the course of the EU in particular. Hence, it would be inaccurate to claim that the PRR represents a ‘common Eurosceptic front’.