How Many Europes? Radical Left and Radical Right Visions of the European Union.

In the large literature on “Euroscepticism”, the focus has mainly been on the destructive dimension of criticism and opposition to the process of European Integration. What has been understudied, however, is the constructive dimension of “Euroscepticism”: Parties critical of the EU, coming mainly from the radical left and the radical right and in the literature typically described as “populists”, often present alternative visions. Radical left parties often propose a “Europe from below”, demanding procedural and social democratization. Radical right parties often propose a “Europe of Nations”, demanding more sovereignty and measures against “Islamization”. These visions are of utmost empirical importance as they might change the process of European integration as radical left and radical right parties become more influential in European political systems. The aim of this article is threefold: First, we describe the alternative visions of the European Union as portrayed in the EU manifestos. Second and mainly, we analyze the similarities and differences between these visions. How do the alternative visions proposed relate to the ideology of these players and their party families? Does the concept of “populism” relate to the proposed alternatives? How does the national background of the parties matter for their alternative visions? In doing so, we study EU manifestos of 14 political parties from 12 countries in order to understand their alternative visions of “Europe”, including radical left and radical right parties from Western and Eastern Europe.