Indifference or Mutual Influence? Far-Right Parties, Movements and the Politicization of the EU in France

This article examines public contestation of Europe by the far right in France. Comparing collective action in the electoral and protest arenas, it investigates whether and how far-right mobilization on the EU has changed over time. Specifically, we follow a politicization approach to look at how the most prominent political parties and grassroots movements of the French far right mobilized on the EU. Methodologically, the article relies on a mixed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the content of the press releases posted by these groups on their official websites, scraped automatically from 2012 to 2019. Mobilization on EU issues is addressed in terms of three interrelated dimensions: intensity, issue focus, and action repertoire, which allow assessing how the far right politicizes Europe in public debates. The results show that European integration holds increasing importance not only for far-right parties, but also for grassroots movements. Yet, there are important differences in the way in which Europe is politicized in the electoral and protest arenas. These findings hold broader implications not only for the study of the Eurosceptic far right in France, but also for the scholarly understanding of the linkages between elections and social movements in general.