DiEM25 and VOLT: New Pro-Europeans and the old dilemma of European federalism

The foundation of two pan-European political parties was the direct result of EU crises and the rise of populism and nationalism. Radical left DiEM25 and centre-left Volt were founded in 2016 and 2017 respectively. They more or less unsuccessfully contested the 2019 European Parliament elections, but left the mark on the emerging European public sphere. Both movements have established transnational European links. In the case of DiEM25 mostly intellectuals and radical left activists and in the case of Volt mostly young professionals promoted their narrative on EU crises. Volt was created ‘to counteract populist promises’ and to 'work towards a united, federal Europe’. On the other hand, DiEM25 in its manifesto disparaged both nationalism and racism and ‘Europe’s pitiful reaction to its banking and debt crises, to the refugee crisis’. DiEM25 also criticised the Brussels bureaucracy and was consequently characterised as representing transnational populism (De Cleen et. al., 2019). Based on interviews with members of both movements and ideological discourse analysis of their written and speech acts this paper will compare ideological backgrounds and profiles of these two movements. The impact of these movements on the ideas of European federalism will also be discussed. The question that poses itself is: how can radical left actors reconcile their internationalism and Europeanism with their populist rhetoric? The differences between these two movements bring to mind the old dilemma of left federalists in the early days of European integration: whether to prioritize ideological or integrationist goals.