Friends of the Far-Right? Explaining Far-Right MEPs' Engagement with Interest Groups

The past decade has witnessed a notable surge of far-right parties in European legislatures. Despite this, we know little about their interactions with interest groups and whether their exchange patterns profoundly differ from those of other political parties. Traditionally, far-right parties are known to engage less frequently with interest groups than mainstream parties. However, as farright parties increasingly take up government positions and play a more prominent role in EU institutions, the dynamics of party-interest group relations may be shifting. This study explores the types of interest organisations far-right parties engage with and the conditions under which these interactions occur. Focusing on the European Parliament, we leverage a novel dataset comprising the meetings of 164 Members of European Parliament (MEPs) with interest organisations. Our findings illuminate the patterns and drivers of far-right engagement with interest groups, and their implications for European democracy and governance.