ABSTRACT
The European elections in 2014 and 2019 testified to the good performance of nationalist, populist and anti-European parties, especially from the right wing. Their increased relevance on the political scene has attracted the attention of several scholars. Yet even if research about electoral campaigns, voter motivations and party families abound, very little is known about the populist attitude towards European policies. The chapter aims to address this gap by looking at how populist parties voted during the VIII European parliamentary term (2014–2019) on some dossiers in order to gauge their attitudes towards European issues, whether they were able to influence ballots, and whether they were cohesive in contesting the EU. Drawing on the distinction between exclusionary and inclusionary populist parties, the research findings highlight the fact that these parties have different positions towards European issues, but they are far from being internally cohesive. Moreover, inclusionary populists are more able to support their motions and to get them approved by the European Parliament.
