European Union

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Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

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Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

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Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Following his address to heads of state or government during the EU summit, President Sassoli will hold a press conference today at 15.30.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Following his address to heads of state or government during the EU summit, President Sassoli will hold a press conference today at 15.30.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

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Committee on Regional Development

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit
Committee on Regional Development

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Silcompa
Approximation of laws
Lorsqu’un produit soumis à accise, tel que l’alcool, est exporté irrégulièrement au sein de l’Union, les décisions des autorités des États membres concernés ne peuvent pas aboutir à un double recouvrement des droits correspondants

Opinion on Guidelines for the 2022 Budget – Section III
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Urmas Paet

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

In the context of the exponential growth of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the President of the European Parliament has announced a number of measures to contain the spread of epidemic and to safeguard Parliament's core activities.

The current precautionary measures adopted by the European Parliament to contain the spread of COVID-19 do not affect work on legislative priorities. Core activities are reduced, but maintained to ensure that the institution's legislative, budgetary, scrutiny functions are maintained.

The meetings will be with remote participation for Members (being able to view and listen to proceedings, ask for the floor and intervene in the meeting). Other participants are invited to follow the meeting through webstreaming.

Following these decisions, the next meeting of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) will take place on 24 and 25 February 2021 (online).

SEDE meetings' calendar 2021
EP calendar 2021
Press release: Instability in the Central African Republic - 24 February 2021
Press release: Chair of the Security and Defence Subcommittee welcomes extension of the New START Treaty - 5 February 2021
Press release: MEPs to discuss security and defence priorities with Minister Gomes Cravinho - 28 January 2021
Press release: MEPs call for unity in Common Security and Defence Policy - 4 December 2020
Press release: MEPS to examine prospects of the EU space defence sector - 27 November 2020
Common Security and Defence Policy: Disinformation targeting EU missions and operations - 16 November 2020
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence will look into the on-going security crisis in the Central African Republic, on 24 February. The debate will focus on possible ways of enhancing international support and the role of the Common Security and Defence Policy in the region, the involvement of Russia, and the possible implementation of the European Peace Facility to equip the Central African Armed Forces (FACA).
Meeting agenda and documents
Live streaming
EU Fact Sheets: Security and defence
EU Fact Sheets: External relations policy
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

On Wednesday, MEPs will discuss women’s rights and the rule of law in Poland with Commissioner Dalli and civil society representatives.
Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

On Wednesday, MEPs will discuss women’s rights and the rule of law in Poland with Commissioner Dalli and civil society representatives.
Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

MEPs will debate how to increase capacity and improve delivery of COVID-19 vaccines with pharmaceutical companies and Commissioners Breton and Kyriakides.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

MEPs will debate how to increase capacity and improve delivery of COVID-19 vaccines with pharmaceutical companies and Commissioners Breton and Kyriakides.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

MCP
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
According to Advocate General Rantos, the courts of a Member State have jurisdiction in a parental dispute in the case where a child, who was habitually resident in that Member State, is wrongfully removed to a non-Member State where he or she acquires habitual residence

A high-profile panel on Monday warned of the economic difficulties stemming from the pandemic, whilst noting that this crisis could offer the chance to rebuild EU economies.
Committee on Budgets
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

A high-profile panel on Monday warned of the economic difficulties stemming from the pandemic, whilst noting that this crisis could offer the chance to rebuild EU economies.
Committee on Budgets
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The Immigration Issue

The European Refugee crisis, which began in 2015, has provided significant challenges for political parties across Europe and for the governance of the European Union (EU). In 2015, over one million migrants and refugees arrived into Europe. This wave continued into 2016, with a substantial reduction in 2017 and 2018 taking place. The peak number of refugees entering the EU in 2015 is often referred to as the European Refugee crisis.

As a result of the Refugee crisis, the importance of immigration as a political issue has remained high on the list of issues the public say is important to them. This has created electoral opportunities for far-right parties across Europe to lay claim to the immigration issue and capture disaffected voters.

This crucial electoral period has provided challenges for traditional centre left (Social Democratic) and centre right parties (Conservative) to update their party strategies across Europe. Though far-right parties are often seen as ‘owning’ the immigration issue from other political parties, our recent paper published in JCMS shows that this is not the case.

We tested our theory of strategic positioning using data on party competition in national parliamentary elections across 28 EU member states during the Refugee crisis (2015–2018). We found that centre right parties that adopted more anti-immigrant positions can increase their electoral success at the ballot box.

Most significantly, we found that this such a strategy benefits centre right parties more than it does for far-right parties during the European Refugee crisis period. We refer to this political phenomenon as ‘strategic positioning.’ We also find that centre left parties do not benefit at the ballot box from adopting more anti-immigrant positions.

 

The Refugee Crisis: Strategic Positioning

To illustrate the electoral success of centre right parties on the immigration issue during the Refugee crisis, we examined the cases of Austria and the Netherlands in Western Europe.

 

Western Europe

In Austria’s General Election in 2017, the centre right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP)

adopted more anti-immigrant positions. This helped the ÖVP to increase their electoral success and to form a coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) after the elections.

In the Dutch General Election in 2017, we found a more complex pattern. Though the governing centre right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) adopted more anti-immigration positions, the party’s vote share decreased and the far-right right party for Freedom (PVV) under Geert Wilders made electoral gains.

Although the VVD performed electorally worse, they still managed to form a coalition government after the election. Adopting ‘tougher’ positions on immigration is likely to have reduced further electoral losses to the far-right PVV. By adopting more restrictive positions on immigration, the centre right in both countries has been able to alleviate the electoral threat that the far-right poses.

 

Central-Eastern Europe

We also identified an additional pattern in our analysis (‘a mainstreaming effect’) that has important implications for the future of liberal democracy across Europe. The ‘former’ traditional centre right Conservative Fidesz Party has now become a fully-fledged far-right party, with their focus on anti-immigrant positions.

This same ideological transformation can also be seen recently in Poland, with the Law and Justice (PiS) Party. This pattern paints a more negative picture for the future of European politics, particularly in the context of Central–Eastern Europe and the rightwards shift of a number of political parties.

 

Why do Centre Right Parties perform better?

Why have centre right parties often adopted hard-line positions on immigration? Scholars have noted that centre right parties are often ideologically ‘pragmatic’, governing parties that generally pursue electoral strategies to maintain and consolidate their political power.

The answer may be simple. The rationale for centre right parties is one of political survival. Such ‘strategic positioning’ may ensure that the centre right can remain in power as a governing party despite the opportunity during the Refugee crisis for challenger parties from the far-right to increase their electoral success.

For the duration of the Refugee crisis, a number of centre right parties across Europe have arguably been electorally resilient by adopting anti-immigrant positions to outmanoeuvre the far-right on this issue.

However, by shifting further right on immigration, centre right parties may have opened up a ‘Pandora’s box’ and brought the ideology of the far-right into the political mainstream. We argue that this strategy is a double-edged sword for centre right parties. This strategy may benefit the centre right in the short-term but may aid the far-right more in the long-term. This has worrying implications for the future of liberal democracy across Europe.

 

 

This blog post draws on the JCMS article, “The Looming Refugee Crisis in the EU: Right-Wing Party Competition and Strategic Positioning.”

 

This blog is also adapted from a previous blog post that was published by LSE EUROPP, “Opening up Pandora’s box? How centre-right parties can outperform the radical right on immigration.”

 

 

James F. Downes is a Lecturer in Comparative Politics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also a Senior Fellow and Head of The Populism Research Unit at The Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right. James is an Associate Research Fellow in the Global Europe Centre at the University of Kent/Brussels School of International Studies and at the Center for Research and Social Progress (Italy). Previously he was a Visiting Scholar (Visiting Scholar) at The European Union Academic Programme Hong Kong (EUAP). He tweets at @DRJamesFDownes

 

Matthew Loveless is an Associate Professor at the University of Bologna (Italy). He is also a Co-Director and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Research and Social Progress (Italy). He tweets at @cersporg

 

 

 

 

Andrew Lam is a District Council Member in Hong Kong and also an Associate Lecturer at The Open University of Hong Kong.

 

The post Centre Right Party Electoral Success on Immigration appeared first on Ideas on Europe.