'Hold the Line': Boundary Work and the Cordon Sanitaire in the European Parliament

Despite the European People’s Party’s (EPP) stated commitment to maintain the cordon sanitaire, excluding the populist radical right (PRR), this boundary of political acceptability is undergoing significant reconfiguration within the European Parliament. This paper investigates how the EPP defines "acceptable" right-wing positions and explores the subsequent effects on the creation of an in-group and out-group. Utilising the theory of boundary work, this study analyses EPP discourse regarding climate and gender resolutions from 2019–2024. Despite a most-similar case selection, preliminary findings reveal a divergence in boundary maintenance: while the EPP largely defends the cordon in climate policy through normative policing and cautionary pragmatism, the boundary is displaced in gender discourse, where EPP rhetoric increasingly aligns with the populist radical right. Furthermore, by reframing the radical left as the primary "out-group," the EPP signals a shift toward coalition realignment. Ultimately, these practices emphasise the importance of conceptualising the cordon sanitaire as a malleable discursive boundary rather than a static wall of exclusion.