Extreme Right online networks and discourses of opposition to the EU in Central and Eastern Europe

This paper analyzes extreme right networks and discourses of opposition to Europe in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and investigates extreme right online networks and their positions towards the EU. While the democratic deficit of the EU is often discussed in terms of institutional design or lack of identification with the European Union among European citizens, this paper argues that the relationship between the (use of) new media and European democracy is an important factor of the EU legitimacy. In fact, tendencies of a 'renationalisation' of politics are observable in many member states, in particular in the form of increasing support for right-wing xenophobic parties and movements, which usually also have a strong anti-European profile and who skillfully use the Internet to spread their virulent anti-Brussels propaganda and create contacts among them. The last 2014 European elections confirmed a favourable trend for radical right-wing and Eurosceptic forces around Europe and also further supported the success of a number of extreme right parties in Central and Eastern Europe. In this paper, we address the interactions between the extreme right and European integration, first of all, by exploring – on the basis of a social network analysis of online links between more than 50 extreme right websites (run by political parties, movements, subcultural groups) – the overall configuration of the extreme right communities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and their structural characteristics (at a micro- and macro-level), shedding light on the mobilization potential of these right-wing anti-European networks in the two contexts. In the second part, through a frame analysis conducted on various types of online and offline documents (websites documents, blogs, party programs and newspapers) of the most important of these organizations, we investigate extreme right discourse on Europe in the last two decades (1993-2013, a total of 6000 frames identified), shedding light on the ‘Europe’ criticized and desired by these groups. Our leading questions will be: How important is Europe in the political discourse of extreme right organizations in comparison with other issues? To which specific issues do they refer when they talk about Europe (cultural, economic, political?). What are the problems with and solutions suggested against the European integration? Furthermore, who are ‘us’ and ‘them’ in relation to Europe? Similarities and differences in the framing strategies of Europe and European issues between different types organizations and the two different countries will be showed and analyzed through a set of political and discursive opportunity structures.