This paper relies on quantitative data from the content analysis of party manifestos in Belgium and Denmark. Regression models allow us to position these parties on the issue of environment, to identify niche parties and their property on that issue, and to compare their positions over time and across party families. Following the emergence and the electoral success of green, this paper will study ideological convergence and the contamination of the migration issue on the mainstream parties’ manifestos, based on different theoretical patterns of competition We will identify the parties that have been by ‘contaminated’ by the issue and that have been the most affected by the electoral success of the green party. This paper intends to demonstrate that the environmental issue is not only ‘owned’ by the green parties, but also that other political parties do compete for that issue in their manifestos.
