Samenvatting

The dissertation at hand is embedded in the context of the 2014 European elections that have brought to light a strong Eurosceptic sentiment throughout Europe. It picks up on the intention to create a new Eurosceptic group in the European Parliament as brought forward by right-wing populists Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen. Both politicians are representatives of Euroscepticism and share an enthusiasm for the “fight against the monster in Brussels”. These common traits initially suggest a certain kinship and compatibility and thus seem make the proposed new group a tangible aim. Instead of following this line of thought, the dissertation rather dares a closer examination of possible hindrances to this proposal by researching the meaning behind populism, Euroscepticism and the processes of political group formation and operation and discloses that a new Eurosceptic group will be subject to a number of barriers posed by right-wing populist rhetoric. In the subsequent context, it is determined that the enthusiastic populist rhetoric is superficial and covers substantial programmatic and ideological differences, in this case between Le Pen’s party Front National and Geert Wilders’ Partij voor de Vrijheid. These discrepancies are identified by a comparison of Dutch and French populism and revolve around societal, political and economic perceptions as well as opinions about immigration and the European Union. With the help of a conceptual frame consisting of rationalist and constructivist argumentation, it can be argued that to a certain extent, the Dutch and French right-wing populist rhetoric does not represent a substantial barrier when it comes to the future formation of the aspired group, but that it is likely to act as a barrier in actual political practices of group operation, as here political actors cannot rely on superficially connecting rhetoric.