Challenging Europe: how antiEU parties use opposition to environmental protectionas a way to confront with the EU
- Autores: Rosa M. Navarrete, Joan Enguer
- Localización: Socioecos 2024. Conference Proceedings June 6-7, 2024: climate change, sustainability and socio-ecological practices / Benjamín Tejerina Montaña (ed. lit.), Cristina Miranda de Almeida De Barros (ed. lit.), Clara Acuña Rodríguez (ed. lit.), 2024, ISBN 978-84-9082-680-5, págs. 143-155
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
As part of its commitment to enhancing overall well-being, the European Union (EU) has pursued ambitious goals regarding the protection of the environment and a more resource-efficient economy.
In this context, the EU has implemented policies and rules in various areas, such as waste management, climate, nature and biodiversity, and air quality, among others. The EU’s ambitious goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and its requirement for countries to develop strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have likely impacted citizens’ perceptions of European policies and forced political actors to advocate for environmental protection even when they may prefer to pursue economic growth-oriented policies. Given the EU’s strong commitment to environmental protection, Eurocritical parties have been using this EU strategy to advance their own climate and environmental agendas as a means of challenging the EU and gaining support from those who are negatively affected by or opposed to the changes implemented to achieve the European Green Deal (EGD).
Given that the extent to which political parties employ this strategy in European-level elections has not been fully investigated, and considering the significance of this phenomenon in the context of the upcoming European elections scheduled for next June, this paper explores the extent to which challenger political parties have identified a new approach to confronting the mainstream positions of the EU by adopting anti-environment stances. We investigate this phenomenon in the context of the 2009, 2014 and 2019 European Parliament (EP) Elections by examining the prominence given to environmental issues in party manifestos and the pro- or anti-environmental protection positions articulated in their European electoral programs. Our findings indicate that challenger parties, namely those with more Eurosceptic tendencies, are also more likely to express anti-environmental positions in their European manifestos. In contrast, parties with more Europhile leanings either omit environmental issues from their manifestos or even appear to adopt a more environmentally friendly stance, despite potentially holding different positions in their national manifestos. This suggests that environmental issues have emerged as a relevant factor in electoral competition, strategically employed by political parties in their campaigns, and emphasized differently depending on the potential electoral gains in multi-level settings. This research offers a novel perspective on the role of environment in political competition and contributes to understanding how parties can challenge the EU’s environmental agenda in their quest to confront the EU.
