Pulled to the Right? The EPP and Climate Politics in the European Parliament

Recent literature has highlighted the twin processes of the mainstreaming of radical right parties and the radicalisation of the mainstream (see, for instance, Akkerman et al. 2016; Albertazzi and Vampa 2021; Moffitt 2022). While these studies have mostly focused on the domestic level of party politics, emerging evidence suggests that similar dynamics are unfolding at the European level within the European Parliament (EP), where the centre-right has at times formed coalitions with groups sitting to its right (e.g., Broniecki and Høyland 2025; de Candia and Bressanelli 2025; Brack and Marié 2024). This paper contributes to this growing body of research by examining the topical policy area of EU climate policy. Specifically, it investigates the extent to which the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) group has shifted rightward on the European Green Deal agenda. The paper pursues two main aims: (1) to map changes in the EPP’s positioning on the European Green Deal over time - comparing the 2019-2024 and 2024-2029 legislatures; and (2) to compare the EPP’s stance with that of parties to its right (i.e., European Conservatives and Reformists, the Patriots for Europe, and the Europe of Sovereign Nations). The analysis focuses on critical junctures in EU climate policy, identified based on their salience in the media sphere. Methodologically, it adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining roll-call vote analysis with qualitative discourse analysis of plenary speeches, conducted longitudinally across key legislative files. Preliminary findings suggest that the EPP is indeed being pulled rightward by parties to its right on climate-related issues. These results contribute to the literature on EU climate politics and to broader debates on party competition and ideological convergence between mainstream and radical right parties at the European level.