In person icon New wave of Europeanism as a Counterreaction to the Rise of Populism

Abstract

Multiple EU crises of the last ten years brought not only the rise of populist and Eurosceptic actors all over the EU, but also the repositioning of mainstream parties and the proliferation of new pro-European political actors. Eurobarometer data showed a sharp rise in the share of respondents identifying as primarily Europeans in countries such as the UK and Hungary during the last decade. Brexit debate resulted with splits in mainstream parties and the creation of new pro-European parties and NGOs such as Change UK and Best for Britain. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe joined forces with La République En Marche! to form a new pro-European political group. New pan-European parties organised their communities in many of the member states. Recently, Viktor Orbán's challenger Peter Márki-Zay branded himself as a European federalist and the new German government espouses federalist tendencies. This new pro-European wave could be interpreted as a counter-reaction to the rise of populist and Eurosceptic actors and could indicate the strengthening of Europeanism and of a new transnational cleavage. In this panel we will discuss the positioning of pro-European parties and leaders acting in different arenas: national politics, regional politics, the European Parliament, transnational political space and high European politics. Two case studies (Emmanuel Macron; the Czech Pirate Party) and two comparisons of political parties (comparison of pro-European EP Groups narratives on the Future of Europe; comparison of DiEM25 and Volt) will try to give answers to following general questions: How pro-European actors emerge or are transformed and what is their relation to Eurosceptic populists? What is their impact in national politics and/or in European politics? As some of the pro-European actors presented in the panel are from time to time characterised as populists we will also question the relation between populism and Europeanism.

Title	Details
Macron's European project - two faces of Europeanism	View Paper Details
New Challengers of Euroscepticism and Populism – The Case of the Czech Pirate Party	View Paper Details
Pro-European EP Groups on the Future of Europe	View Paper Details
DiEM25 and VOLT: New Pro-Europeans and the old dilemma of European federalism	View Paper Details