UNDER RUSSIAN INFLUENCE? A quantitative study on the effect of euroscepticism on European peripheral parties’ voting behaviour

Abstract

For nearly two decades, Europe was considered a stable and peaceful continent. Following several crises, including the annexation of Crimea and Brexit, the future of European integration is being questioned. Despite being on different sides of the ideological spectrum, European far right and far left political parties have one characteristic in common with each other and Russia: euroscepticism. This thesis aims at examining the effect of euroscepticism on peripheral parties’ voting behaviour in votes in the European Parliament that can undermine Russia and Russia’s interests and objectives. The hypothesis claims that the higher the degree of euroscepticism, the more likely is the peripheral party to vote in line with Russia’s interests. This theory is tested quantitatively and an OLS multivariate regression analysis is conducted. The results show, after introducing five control variables, that euroscepticism has no significant effect on peripheral parties voting behaviour in votes regarding Russia. However, the analysis shows that parties holding a government position are less likely to vote in line with Russia’s interests and parties that show anti-establishment senitments are more likely to vote in line with Russia’s interests. This knowledge is important, in order to understand which potential influence Russia can have on European peripheral parties.