How have far-right parties impacted political discourse in the European Parliament from 2013 to 2015?

Abstract

The present research proposes an analysis of discourse that has impacted different political parties in the European Parliament (EP) to become more susceptible to anti-immigration rhetoric and the far-right agenda. The main hypothesis is that the European refugee crisis of 2015 and its outcomes have impacted far-right political parties' discourse in the EP. This study chose the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) to further analyze. This will be done by utilizing critical discourse analysis on EP speeches from these political groups from 2013 to 2015 on the topic of migration, focusing on how the migratory influx might have led to an increase in far-right rhetoric within this institution. The present study will then use speeches chosen after an inductive coding and categorization method to make a descriptive analysis to observe the impact of this discourse within the EP. The findings indicate a significant correlation between the refugee crisis of 2015 and the adoption of anti-immigration rhetoric and far-right positions by the ECR, as well as notable shifts in the S&D discourse, as a direct response to this phenomenon. The radicalization of both ends of the political spectrum was noted through the use of critical discourse analysis and...