Populism in the EU: new threats to the open society?

In May 2014, around one in four Europeans voted for protest parties and anti-establishment candidates in the first pan-European poll since the euro crisis began. The rise of populism across Europe has brought more extremism of various kinds into the European Parliament. It could change the balance of power between the institutions, and be detrimental to EU policies, legislation and funding that nurture open societies.

This article will consider the impact of xenophobic populist parties, who have also become increasingly anti-EU, not considering here the extreme left Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who entered the Parliament.

This article forms part of an issue of Challenge Europe called 'Challenges and new beginnings: Priorities for the EU’s new leadership' as the launch of a new EU institutional cycle 2014-2019 began.

ESO: Background information: Eurosceptics in the 2014 EP Elections: Protest parties mobilized on national cleavages between globalization winners and losers http://www.europeansources.info/record/eurosceptics-in-the-2014-ep-elections-protest-parties-mobilized-on-national-cleavages-between-globalization-winners-and-losers/

Blog: LSE EuroppBlog, 29.01.15: Populist arguments have become more pervasive in Western European countries http://bit.ly/1BrJJUf

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