Talking left, voting right: An assessment of far-right voting on socio-economic issues in the European Parliament
Greilinger, Gabriela ; Mudde, Cas
European Trade Union Institute, Brussels
ETUI - Brussels
2024
17 p.
EU Parliament ; political party ; voting ; economic and social development
ETUI Policy Brief. European Economic, Employment and Social Policy
2024.05
European Union
English
Bibliogr.
"Key findings
• Some European far-right parties might increasingly talk left-wing but they continue largely to vote right-wing on socio-economic issues.
• Despite heterogeneity within the two far-right political groups in the European Parliament (2019–2024) – Identity and Democracy (ID) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) – overall, it remains the case that the far right is clearly unsupportive of workers' rights. The large majority of 18 far-right parties (out of 22) have voted against socio-economic initiatives at the European level.
• Although far-right Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) largely vote homogenously within their party, we find considerable heterogeneity on key socio-economic issues within ID and ECR, in particular on the issues of minimum corporate taxation for multinational companies and adequate minimum wages.
• While regional differences are relatively small, far-right parties in Northern Europe are particularly prone to voting right-wing on socio-economic issues.
• Poor voting discipline within the two groups indicates that socio-economic issues are not central to either ID or ECR."
Digital
ISBN (PDF) : 2031-8782
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