Facing a ‘civilisational choice’: Images of Europe by the populist radical right in the 2019 European elections

Abstract

This paper deals with the perceptions of Europe as developed by the European populist radical right over the campaign for the 2019 European Parliament elections. The study is based on the public communications of three leading political parties in this spectrum: France’s Rassemblement national, Italy’s Lega and Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland. By applying image theory in international relations, the paper comes to the conclusion that the radical right managed to construct a relatively coherent image of the EU as a distant undemocratic actor in sharp contrast to the alternative narrative of one ‘Europe of fatherlands’ described in mostly civilisational terms.

Has neoliberal globalisation contributed to growing levels of nationalism across Europe?

“…argue neoliberalism is a set of ideas and actions whose objective is to restore, expand and maintain the power of economic elites relative to ordinary people. This idea feeds into traditional populist divisions of "us V them" and "the elite V the people" and fuels the narrative of "Bureaucratic Brussels" handing power to the unelected representatives of the European Commission (EC) and away from the people (Popivanov, 2020). Political and economic elites responded to the GFC with self-interest at the expense of the people to ensure they maintained their power, status and wealth in society .…”

“…Their research into voter perceptions showed that people who disapproved of the EU performance in the crisis, were more likely to vote for a hard-Eurosceptic party in the 2014 European Parliamentary (EP) elections. The EP elections of 2014 (Mascitelli, 2018) and 2019 (Popivanov, 2020) have been viewed as pivotal in the development of European integration. The results marked an advancement and subsequent consolidation of radical populist and right-wing nationalist representation in the EP.…”

“…To highlight the nationalist response to neoliberal conditions three emergent movements will be analysed in greater detail: France's Rassemblement National (RN), Italy's Lega Nord (LN) and Movimento 5 Stelle (5SM) and Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). These movements have been chosen as all three are in founding member states of the EU and all three participate in the EP political group Identity and Democracy (Popivanov, 2020). RN, alternatively known as Front National (National Front) was first established in 1972 but has been under the leadership of Marine Le Pen since 2011 (Ray, n.d.).…”

“…The election saw a surge in support for parties who outwardly rejected the EU or called for strong reform with RN becoming the most popular party in France (Hobolt & De Vries, 2016). RN campaigns heavily against the effects of globalisation and uncontrolled capitalism and suggests a different Europe, one that defends the border, protects the 'Fatherlands' and its citizens (Popivanov, 2020). It further contends that the EU seeks to destroy the most important political asset of modernity: the nation state.…”

“…Taking over as leader he transformed the party from a regional to national in line with Marine Le Pen in France (Viviani, 2019). The party pushes for a Europe where MS can protect and control their borders and traditions (Popivanov, 2020). The nationalist agenda is shown most prominently by the campaign "Basta Euro" where Salvini vehemently criticised the European Monetary Union (EMU) and EU apportioning blame on those institutions for Italy's economic woes (Brunazzo & Gilbert, 2021).…”