Radical-Right Parties, their Foreign Policy Positions on Russia and in the European Parliament. A Comparison of Latvia and Estonia

To what extent do two radical-right political formations in eastern Europe confirm the hypothesis that such parties select partners in the European Parliament (EP) for reasons of either ideological affinity or domestic respectability? Two cases are explored and systematically compared: the Estonian Conservative People?s Party (EKRE), and the Latvian National Alliance (NA). As empirical results show, their foreign policy positions on Russia differ from those adopted by far-right parties elsewhere in the European Union. This fact cannot, however, explain the different attitudes expressed by each party in its homeland and in the European Parliament. In contrast, EKRE has taken part in a coalition to form a government headed by the Center Party (which is friendlier to Russia), and it has allied with the parliamentary group ?Identity and Democracy? in the EP.