Sakalis, A. (2014) “A black cloud over the EU?”, Euro Crisis in the Press, LSE, 14 April.
The newly announced Le Pen-Wilders alliance in the European parliament has re-ignited speculation about the rise of the far-right in Europe. What can we expect from this new EU supergroup? The recent success of the Front National in French local elections, as well as the announcement of a Le Pen-Wilders alliance in the European parliament, has re-ignited speculation about the rise of the far-right in Europe. It is widely expected that the far-right will attain their best ever European results in the May elections. Despite this, far right parties and MEPs have historically found it difficult to form groups in the European parliament. Why? And what has changed?
From humble beginnings
European groups are an intrinsic part of the European parliament. They can either be a single European party, such as the EPP, or a coalition of European parties, such as The Greens – European Free Alliance (which is a coalition between the European Green Party and the European Free Alliance). The EPP is the largest group in the Parliament with 274 MEPs, while the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats is the second largest, with 195 MEPs.
Relevant posts:
- Grabbe, H. and Lehne, S. (2013) “The 2014 European elections: Why a partisan Commission president would be bad for the EU”, Centre for European Reform, 14 October.
- Piedrafita, S. (2013) “Elections to the European Parliament and the trouble with vox populi”, European Policy Institutes Network, No.22, 22 August.
- De Bromhead, A. Eichengreen, B. and O’Rourke, K., (2012) “Right Wing Political Extremism in the Great Depression”, Discussion Paper no. 95, University of Oxford, February.