Religion at the European Parliament and in European Multi-Level Governance by François Foret

Author:François Foret [Foret, François]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General, Religion
ISBN: 9781138901179
Google: gnXFrQEACAAJ
Goodreads: 26407908
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-01-15T13:17:22+00:00

The newcomers in the European Parliament

Poland’s first representation to the EP, elected in 2004, was characterised by a much more right-wing and conservative political orientation than for its western counterparts, reflecting an increasing domination of centre-right and right-wing parties on the country’s political scene since the 2000s and a stabilisation of its party system (Gwiazda 2009). In addition to the domestic dynamics, it is likely that the composition of MEPs resulted from the low turnout in the elections in the new acceding countries. In Poland the turnout was 20.87% – the second-lowest in the entire EU. The low turnout led to the victory of parties that had a much more mobilised and disciplined electorate, and hence the right-wing and populist parties gained significant support. Moreover, the elections were organised a year after the referendum on EU membership, which probably also had an impact on voters’ behaviour, being a counter-reaction to the massive campaigns and also to the social mobilisation before the referendum.

The first Polish delegation to the EP thus turned out to be composed mostly of representatives of parties which defined themselves as conservative and aligned with the Christian Democratic tradition and which strongly emphasised the axiological dimension (and in some instances religion) in their political programmes (36 MEPs out of 54 in the sixth EP). This is further confirmed by scholars assessing the impact of the enlargement on the functioning of the EP. They have claimed that the results of the 2004 elections strengthened the conservative voice in the EP and allowed it to express its view on many issues in the supranational arena (see for example De Clerck-Sachsse and Kaczyński 2009). In both the sixth and the seventh EPs the majority of MEPs from Poland joined centre-right and right-wing party groups in the EP (see Table 1). It is also important to note that the ongoing process of consolidation of the parties at national level was reflected in the activities of MEPs. LPR, PSL and SRP MEPs frequently changed their party affiliation and consequently their party groups in the EP. This process, clearly visible in the sixth term, was to some extent continued in the seventh EP, with some further defections from PiS (see Table 1).

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