EUROBAROMETERS: ANOTHER KEY TO UNDERSTANDING A RISING POPULISM

In recent years, populist parties have gradually established themselves on the political scene in the four major European countries, as evidenced by surveys and their growing weight in national parliaments and governments. Although last week’s European Parliament elections did not lead to any populist “wave”, populism will remain in all likelihood a defining feature of the European political landscape. A reading of Eurobarometer surveys in the four major European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain) shows that the speeches of populist parties have indeed succeeded in aligning themselves with public opinion's concerns on a range of economic, cultural and political issues. There is also a pronounced mistrust of the current European institutions, embodied by the traditional parties (conservative and social-democratic). This mistrust may have benefited populist parties that have acquired a credible alternative stature to traditional parties. On the other hand, there is no massive disavowal of the European project as such that would suggest that populist will be able to challenge the European project in a more substantive way. The analysis of these polls therefore reinforce s our view that the rise of populist parties in the European elections could be substantial without becoming the new mainstream . Moreover, behind the term "populist" lies a nebula of parties whose antagonistic orientations prevent the creation of a common bloc in the European Parliament . The strengthening of populist parties could nevertheless slow down the European legislative process and influence the appointment of European leaders to key positions in the European institutions (Presidents of the European Commission, the European Parliament, the ECB and the European Council, etc.).