A new hope for Europhiles? The 2017 German federal elections and the revenge of the pro-European mainstream

The rise of the right-wing populist and eurosceptic party, Alternative für Deutschland, in Germany represents a significant shake up of the country’s pro-EU consensus. Spatial models of partisan behaviour predict that mainstream parties are likely to react to eurosceptic challenges by veering towards a more critical european position. A comparison of the politicisation of European integration in party programmes between the 2017 federal elections and those held previously shows that the reverse is true. In the face of a rising eurosceptic challenger, mainstream parties became more pro-European and more explicitly vocal in their support for the EU as the AfD expanded its support in advance of the 2017 election. In short, instead of accommodating to euroscepticism, mainstream parties have opted for an adversarial response. I argue that the europhile fight-back of mainstream parties is likely driven by increases in europhilia amongst mainstream parties’ supporters in the face of the AfD