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The European Parliament influenced policy, and was a forum for the airing and sharing of a wide array of views and approaches to forms of European integration. Often conflicted and divided, members of the British Labour Group, comprising of the elected Labour Party representatives to the European Parliament, viewed the European Economic Community as a key platform and means through which workers' rights could be supported. And many Labour Party Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), including sceptics, enthusiasts and those whose views changed, played a part in shaping the European Economic Community. This was particularly so with workers' rights, an area which was central to the Labour Party, the European Parliament and the European Economic Community in the 1980s. The European Parliament was an instrumental institution in terms of building ties across borders and shaping and changing perspectives on key policy areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Europarecht (05312485) is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Europarecht (05312485) is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article investigates member state influence on the making of EU counter-terrorism policy. Crucially, member states have not been viewed as major drivers of change in EU counter-terrorism, despite their experience of attacks, policy expertise, and the domestic salience of the issue. To address this gap, I show how member states acted as policy entrepreneurs during EU Passenger Name Records (EU-PNR), on which final agreement was reached in 2016. Specifically, I demonstrate that the UK Home Office was a prominent, long-term actor in the development of the EU's counter-terrorism policy and worked with the Commission to build an alliance in favour of EU-PNR. However, it was only with the 'window of opportunity' presented by jihadi terrorist attacks between 2015 and 2016 that members of the French government were finally able to pressure critical elements of the European Parliament into agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2014–2019 European Parliament (EP) contained an unprecedented number of Eurosceptic Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). These changes reflected a growing politicisation of European integration in which conflicts between those opposing the process and those favouring it became more pronounced. Using a unique time series of surveys of the European parliamentarians, we examine how far the policy preferences of the MEPs responded to this politicisation. MEPs' preferences over general policy questions as well as European Union (EU)‐specific issues have traditionally been described by a multi‐dimensional space: with a left‐right dimension, incorporating both economic and socio‐cultural issues, distinct from a pro‐/anti‐Europe dimension. We find that the political space in the EP evolved in the 2014–2019 parliament, with MEPs' preferences more strongly aligned along a single dimension, which captures economic, socio‐cultural, and EU integration issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon increase both the role of the European Parliament and the national parliaments in the decision-making mechanism of the European Union. This process, by which greater importance is given to the competences of the European Parliament, is viewed, both by Eurosceptic, but also by those who support the theory of the dissolution of the concept of sovereignty in the process of European integration, through the lens of scenarios inconsistent with legal reality. The present study aims to argue, starting from the principles of organization and operation of the European Union, as they are codified by the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon, that the integration process not only does not diminish the importance of national parliaments, but brings nuances and advances regulations to ensure efficient and effective democratic control in the European integration process and also to propose appropriate solutions to overcome said issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do citizens and Members of the European Parliament agree on the format and future of the EU? While the literature has emphasized the gap between pro-European elites and increasingly Eurosceptic electorates, this article relies on a novel dataset to explore the implications of measures of such (in)congruence at the EU level. We compare the preferences of elected representatives and of voters on a wide range of issues: democracy at the supranational level, the reform of EU policies, as well as institutions. The empirical analysis relies on a citizen survey and on an MEP survey conducted in the framework of the RECONNECT project. We evidence that the level of congruence varies across issues and that it is the representatives, not the citizens, who drive polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volt is a pan-European, Eurofederalist party that seeks to deepen and democratize European Union integration. It participated in elections in nine European countries and won representation in the Dutch Parliament and German constituency for the European Parliament. We examine Volt Netherlands, which studies the possibilities of a pan-European party. We look at the importance of its pro-European positions for voting for this party; this is an issue that all national branches of Volt share. We also examine the specific political opportunity structure of the Netherlands, where pro-nuclear environmentalism was an open niche. In this way, we weigh the importance of the party's pan-European appeal and the country-specific political opportunity structure. We show the importance of the country-specific factors for new party support and thus cast doubt on the ability of pan-European parties to mobilize voters all over Europe with the same message. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Parliamentary Institutions (IPIs) increasingly welcome non-state actors (NSAs) within their policy-making procedures. Political donations are an important tool in NSAs' lobbying toolbox that has been well researched at the national level. Nevertheless, we know little about the links between NSAs, IPIs and political finance. Employing the European Parliament as an exploratory case-study, the article meticulously assesses micro-level financial donor data. Contrasting neo-functional and intergovernmental approaches, the results demonstrate a cleavage formed between individuals supporting anti-integration political parties, and international business donating to pro-integration parties. Theoretically, the article validates postfunctionalist approaches as a model for parts of the NSA–IPI relationship. Conceptually, the analysis shows that IPIs can encourage transnational cleavage formation and serve a representative function, which addresses the concerns about democratic deficit that come with the transfer of policy-making authority to international organizations. Simultaneously, financial donations can strengthen movements that oppose an IPI, and have an asymmetric impact on the IPI's political legitimacy. This calls for further research on NSAs' political financing of IPIs, the impact of financial donations on IPIs and the need to update relevant regulatory frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Przegląd Europejski is the property of University of Warsaw and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This overview presents some outcomes of the survey 'Religion in the European Parliament and in European multilevel governance' (RelEP2) pursued during the term 2019–2024. It focuses on the way politicisation may occur in two capacities: politicisation through religion by its effects on the functioning of the European Parliament (EP) as an institution and on political belongings and cleavages; politicisation of religion as an issue or a set of actors likely to increase the conflictualisation of European politics. Politicisation is defined along three usual dimensions customised for the purpose of our research: the salience of religion in MEPs' work, attitudes, and practices; its effects on polarisation (understood as a hardening of belongings and cleavages); its contribution to the expansion of actors and audiences involved in debating or shaping European integration. Our findings show that religion has limited salience in the functioning of the EP and in the practices of its members. Religion may work as a symbolic marker of distinction between and within existing belongings, and leads to a fragmentation rather than to the polarisation of clear-cut coalitions shaped by religious beliefs or issues. The capacity of religious actors or issues to expand the debate about European integration is not demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution investigates the role of religion in the work and attitudes of Polish members of the European Parliament (MEPs). It draws on two types of data: the results of the Polish part of the survey on Religion in the European Parliament and in European multilevel governance II (RelEP2) and qualitative content analysis of Polish MEPs' speeches from the first part of the European Parliament's ninth term of office (July 2019–June 2021). The analysis of the MEPs' plenary speeches reveals the pivotal role religion plays in articulating the main national political divide between sovereignists and Europeanists over attitudes to European integration. Religion, treated primarily as a cultural resource and identity marker, has become instrumental for the process of politicisation of EU integration at the supranational level – mirroring processes on the domestic level – pursued especially by MEPs representing right-wing orientations. The analysis of the survey results demonstrates that Catholicism constitutes an important element of many Polish MEPs' individual value systems and identities. However, this translates into an ambivalent perception of the role of religion in the context of the public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Przegląd Europejski is the property of University of Warsaw and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Codrul Cosminului is the property of Codrul Cosminului and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of Eurosceptic contestation within the legislative arena of the European Parliament (EP) from 2009 to 2019. Under what conditions do Eurosceptics vote differently from their Europhile peers? The literatures on European integration, party competition and policy types lead us to expect variation in Eurosceptic contestation across policy areas. Drawing on roll‐call votes in the EP, we introduce two new measures of such contestation: Eurosceptic dissent, that is, the extent to which Eurosceptics diverge from the Europhile plurality, and integration polarization, that is, the extent to which Eurosceptics and Europhiles oppose each other as cohesive camps. Our two indicators show that Eurosceptic contestation is particularly pronounced when the EP votes on cultural, distributive and constituent issues. When voting on redistributive policies, in contrast, dissent and polarization are curbed by national and ideological diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Parliament (EP) as one of the key institutions of the European Union has gained considerable powers over time and often presents itself as a constant gender equality promoter. Whilst gender equality in the EP tended to be analysed in terms of women's descriptive, substantive and symbolic representation, this article shifts the focus to the concept of power itself in assessing gender equality achievements in and through the EP. Applying Amy Allen's conceptualization of power as power to, power over and power with to a critical reading of recent literature, it explores who can exercise power over what in the EP and the consequences for gender equality. The article challenges the EP as a unified gender equality actor and highlights its highly gendered nature in which power over and power to are intertwined, with power to occurring without power over and power with unfolding through alliances and coalitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the institutions and regulations that govern the transnational movement of dead bodies in contemporary Europe. With the extension of free movement across the European Union and the subsequent expansion of transnational employment, tourism, and retirement, the repatriation of corpses from one member state to another lies in an ambiguous regulatory space. In exploring how dead bodies move between EU member states, and how their movements are regulated within transnational and national systems, the paper pays particular attention to the legacies and continued relevance of mid-century international agreements. Section 1 contextualises the issue of the transportation of mortal remains, discusses our broader theoretical background, and explains our research methods. Section 2 provides an historical overview of the foundational international regulations governing the repatriation of corpses: the 1937 Berlin Agreement and the 1973 Strasbourg Agreement. In Section 3, we present a comprehensive review of the discussion of repatriation of EU citizens between EU countries that occurred in the European Parliament and Commission between 2000 and 2018. In so doing, we focus on the ways in which understanding institutional action and inaction provides a lens on the operation of supranational competency development and its limits, and on the complex ways in which institutional arrangements are interwound within national, international, and transnational practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales is the property of Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The EU institutions – led by the Commission, Parliament and European Council, along with the Council of the EU – are determined to make this the union's “digital decade”. It is time for Europe to consolidate its digital development and set rules in line with its moral and cultural principles, instead of following those of external actors like China and the United States, as well as focussing on data, technology and infrastructure. This paper examines the EU’s digital development from the perspectives and positions of the abovementioned institutions, which show divergences, albeit within a common framework. Based on three theoretical currents (neofunctionalism, federalism and intergovernmentalism), it applies a critical perspective to analyse the impact (positive and/or negative) on European citizens of the institutions’ actions in this field.

This article addresses the scenarios that may be encountered by the first application for pre-market approval of a CRISPR-edited plant in the EU. Two alternative scenarios are considered in the short and medium term. One of these possible EU futures depends on the final drafting and approval of EU legislation on certain New Genomic Techniques, which was started in 2021 and is due to be quite advanced before the next European Parliament elections in 2024. Since the proposed legislation excludes plants with foreign DNA, two different approval processes for CRISPR-edited plants will coexist if the legislation enters into force: one for plants whose genome has been altered, resulting in mutagenesis, cisgenesis and intragenesis; and the second for plants whose alterations result in transgenesis in general. In the event that this legislative process does not succeed, CRISPR-edited plants in the EU could face a regulatory scenario whose foundations were laid in the 1990s: the regulatory framework that applies to GM crops, food and feed. In this review, an ad hoc analytical framework has been built that considers in depth the two possible futures for CRISPR-edited plants in the EU. This framework emphasises the way in which the European Union and the Member States (MS), with their respective national interests, have historically shaped the regulatory framework for plant breeding in the EU. On the basis of the analyses carried out on the two possible futures for CRISPR-edited plants and of their potential with respect to plant breeding, the main conclusions are the following. Firstly, that the regulatory review that started in 2021 is not in itself "good enough" for plant breeding and CRISPR-edited plants. Secondly, that compared to its alternative, the regulatory review currently underway contains at least some promising improvements in the short term. Hence, thirdly, in addition to adopting the current regulation, the MS need to continue to work towards a substantial improvement in the legal status of plant breeding in the EU in the medium term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sinn Féin was once staunchly Eurosceptic and has periodically campaigned against the ratification of European Union treaties in Ireland. Since the early 2000s, however, they have rejected the Eurosceptic label and self-described as 'critically engaged' with the European Union. This article explores how Sinn Féin have used their membership of the European Parliament and the European United Left/Nordic Green Left parliamentary group since their first Members of the European Parliament were elected in 2004, with a particular focus on the acrimonious post–Brexit referendum period. The article argues that the European Union forum is seen in terms of its utility by Sinn Féin, as a venue to teach and learn from their colleagues on their particular understanding of Irish history, nationalism and party strategy. It concludes by arguing that, in a process beginning before Brexit, the opportunities the European Union platform affords Sinn Féin have led to the adaptation of a particularly novel engagement strategy with European institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethno-regional parties play a vital role in the conflict between the center and the ethnic regions, which is relevant for all modern multiethnic EU states. The European integration allows these parties to participate in the regional policy of the EU (contributing to the decentralizing reforms in the member states), as well as to interact within Euroregions and on communitarian platforms, such as the European Parliament. This article aims to clarify if this ethno-regionalist faction is able to influence the integration processes in Europe, and to what extent. To achieve this goal, we need to answer the following questions: how can the ethno-regionalists be described from a theoretical point of view? What is the dynamic of their development within the European Parliament, considering the historical retrospective? What are their current ideological attitudes that allow them to maintain unity and achieve success? The article is based on the author’s concept of cultural-territorial differentiations, which points the correlation between the political ethno-regional movement and the existing ethnocultural features and historical territory. The author concludes that it was Europeanization that led to the strengthening of the ethno-regional movement in Europe as it made the question of the ethno-regional collective response relevant. Therefore, ethno-regionalists are an essential element of every political system at the national and supranational levels. At the same time, the historical evolution and experience of European regionalists prove that they cannot constitute an independent and autonomous political force at the supranational level as their cooperation depends on various legal and political circumstances occurring on the state level.

The strengthening of the populist radical right poses an important challenge for European integration. This article explores whether democratic backsliding among member states has acted as a catalyst for broader PRR cooperation at the EU level. Studying the co-sponsorship and contents of parliamentary questions and roll-call vote cohesion of PRR representatives in the European Parliament from 2009 to 2019, we examine the extent and substance of their joint polity-based contestation of European integration. Our findings indicate that overall levels of PRR cooperation remain low and concentrated within European party groups, suggesting that ideological divergences between PRR actors and their institutional fragmentation within the EP still hamper their formal cooperation at the European level. These insights feed into debates on the potential and limitations of transnational cooperation of PRR actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of European integration, citizens and organisations can participate through specialised bodies such as political parties, but also interest groups (Aron, 2020; Dür, Bernhagen and Marshall, 2015). This article shows how lobbies are using political communication tools to influence public institutions. This proposal aims to analyse the communication strategies of lobbies in Europe and which institutions they focus their activities on, the European Commission or the European Parliament. The aim is to find out the audiences with which they establish relations in their communication activities, to analyse which countries and which types of lobbies have the greatest presence in the register of interest groups, and how they manage their communication tools. To carry out this study, two research techniques were chosen, content analysis and survey, for which a stratified probabilistic sampling was carried out using the organisational typologies contemplated in the European Union Transparency Register as a stratum, obtaining 363 interest groups. Subsequently, for the content analysis, all registered lobbies related to both European institutions were chosen. The main findings reveal that the European Parliament is the main target of NGOs, trade union associations and companies, while employers' and academic associations focus their efforts on the European Commission. Business and employers' organisations have a stronger presence and influence in the European institutions than self-employed and faith-based organisations. Belgium is the country with the most registered lobbies. The lobbying sector is dominated by middle-aged men with legal training and professional experience who prefer direct lobbying and make marginal use of indirect lobbying tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure of the Constitutional Treaty, but also the recent developments in the European Parliament, through the formation of a group of countries following the nationalist current, demonstrate that the attribution of the title of superstate to the European Union does not reflect the political-legal reality of the European construction. On the other hand, the consideration of some of the powers of the Union as superpowers is also inconsistent with the regulations of contemporary international law, generating confusion, both on a legal and political level. This article aims to present the necessary arguments for clarifying the legal nature of the powers of the European Union and correlatively, the sui generis character of this international organization with an integrationist vocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the series of legal spheres in which serious efforts have been made towards the unification of legal rules within the European Union, those in the field of family and law of succession come last. The reasons are quite clear and simple. The enormous influence of the already established tradition in the field of the succession seemed an insurmountable obstacle, especially because of the obvious differences between the continental, Common Law system, and the countries belonging to the Nordic legal family. For that reason, harmonization in the area of law of succession was approached at that moment when the real need for uniform rules that would be a basis or a roadmap to overcome the collision of norms between national legislations related to succession became evident. Namely, the huge number of probate procedures that have a foreign element in them and whose value is not to be neglected, was a clear signal that the need to take specific steps that will lead to the desired goal is maturing. Of course, when we talk about the European perspective in the field of law of succession, we cannot in any sense say that the attempt to find appropriate solutions will mean a complete break with the succession legal systems of the member countries, but on the contrary, it should mean consistent respect for national regulations, placed in a wider context, with the aim of solving some disputed issues on the one hand, but also rationalizing the costs related to probate proceedings with a foreign element on the other hand. In summary, the adoption of the European Regulation on Succesion 650/2012 was preceded by slow and cautious steps and activities of the authorized institutions of the European Union, of which we will single out as particularly significant the recommendations of the European Parliament from 16.10.2006, most of which are regulated in the new European Regulation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has documented the European Commission's attention to the preferences of the European public and the other EU institutions when formulating policy proposals. This project demonstrates that such efforts originated with the first Barroso Commission, which addressed public concerns through purposeful coordination with the European Parliament when drafting policy priorities in the Commission's administrative units. We test for public input during the inter-institutional coordination as early as 2004–2008, using Europarties' pledges issued during the 2004 EP elections and subsequent Commission policy priorities. Our analyses show that the policy priorities of the Commission overlap with the Europarties' pledges when 1) the public is critical of European integration, 2) policies are salient to the public, and 3) priority initiatives fall in areas dominated by civil society and NGO groups. We interpret our results as a responsive relationship based on the inter-institutional coordination between the two actors at the agenda-setting stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU institutions - led by the Commission, Parliament and European Council, along with the Council of the EU - are determined to make this the union's "digital decade". It is time for Europe to consolidate its digital development and set rules in line with its moral and cultural principles, instead of following those of external actors like China and the United States, as well as focussing on data, technology and infrastructure. This paper examines the EU's digital development from the perspectives and positions of the abovementioned institutions, which show divergences, albeit within a common framework. Based on three theoretical currents (neofunctionalism, federalism and intergovernmentalism), it applies a critical perspective to analyse the impact (positive and/or negative) on European citizens of the institutions' actions in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The different crises affecting the EU since 2008 have triggered the politicization of European integration. In this regard, it is of primary importance to understand how the EU representation model works, and what have been the major shortcomings of this function at the supranational level. The article will focus on the role and functioning of the European Parliament (EP), which in this moment in history should arguably be at the centre of the political debate over the EU and its governance. Instead, the EP's representative function has proven to be rather weak also in this mutating context. Using the theoretical insights of the representative claim theory declined according to the peculiarity of the multilevel governance system, the present article offers a theoretical framework with which to interpret the weaknesses and the dilemma of supranational representation and the role of the EP in this fragile context. Furthermore, the article will suggest that the rise of Euroscepticism can be seen as an unavoidable outcome of the shortcomings of the EU's representative system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We ask whether and why European political parties receive election news coverage abroad and investigate this phenomenon by combining theoretical stipulations regarding the politicisation of European integration and the horizontal Europeanisation of national public spheres. Based on a content analysis of 64 newspapers in 16 European Union countries following the 2019 European Parliament election, we argue that contestation over European integration increases the likelihood that foreign journalists report election results from a particular member state. Eurosceptic parties are more often visible abroad than Europhile parties, unless they stood for election in a highly polarised party system. Our results have important implications for the European Union's legitimacy as contestation over European integration increases the chances for citizens to learn about election results in other European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major findings of the literature on Euroscepticism is that support for European integration generally declines as one moves closer to the extremes of the left-right ideological spectrum. However, in multidimensional policy space, Euroscepticism varies in more complex ways. This article explores the relief of Euroscepticism for citizens in four European states – the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and France – based on data from voting advice applications fielded before the 2019 elections of the European Parliament. The results reveal that the way Euroscepticism maps onto other dimensions differs significantly for citizens and for parties and across political contexts. Such variation is important for understanding how preferences for European integration are embedded into existing structures of political competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of European Integration History is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of European Integration History is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The rise of populist radical right parties (PRRPs) in a growing number of European Union (EU) member states and inside the European Parliament (EP) has triggered concern over their ability to drive further contestation of European integration. Using EU enlargement as a test case, we analyse an original dataset of over 2′700 hand‐coded statements from the last three EP mandates (2004–19) to trace the emergence of an increasingly coherent, oppositional discourse by PRRPs towards a further widening of the EU. We show that PRRPs contribute to a generalized hardening of opposition towards enlargement, but fail to impose their identity‐focused framing upon other parliamentary actors. Instead, we suggest that mainstream party groups accommodate PRRPs' essentialist discourse by shifting from technical, conditionality‐based reasoning towards more political arguments articulated around human rights and democracy. Our findings feed into debates about the transnational cooperation of PRRPs and the political impact of Euroscepticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article complements analyses of the partisan politicization of the European Parliament from roll‐call votes with an analysis of political groups' use of parliamentary questions. Questions offer an institutional opening for issue politicization and for partisan differentiation. Parliamentary groups have incentives to shape EU policies by drawing the attention to their topics of predilection and by controlling ongoing action. We make use of a new dataset on questions for oral answer (2004–19) to test if this results in European party groups emphasizing differentiated topics in their questions to the Commission and the Council. Our analyses confirm groups' differentiated issue attention. These findings have important implications for understanding the partisan politicization of EU policies and confirming the truly political nature of deliberation in the EP. They reveal patterns of partisan opposition different from those expressed in votes and emphasize the relevance of parliamentary questions as a key institutional window for politicization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crises, as critical moments in the process of European integration, are particularly conducive to the increased politicisation of the European Union (EU) and its contestation. The year 2015 saw the peaks of the Greek and the refugee crises, the two crises that put the two flagships of the European project—the Euro and the Schengen zone—into imminent peril, causing a prolonged EU legitimacy crisis. Building on the literature that considers Euroscepticism as a context-dependent and discursive phenomenon, this study analyses Facebook debates that emerged in response to the Greek and refugee crises, trying to identify how the EU was evaluated and how these evaluations were justified. To answer this question, this study involved the qualitative content analysis of over 7000 Facebook comments related to the Greek and migration crises published in 2015 on the pages of the European Parliament and the European Commission. Contrary to the literature that explains popular Euroscepticism by utilitarian or cultural factors, the findings of this study show that the most recurrent justification for negative EU polity evaluations is the lack of democratic credentials. Furthermore, the commentators mostly assessed the EU's current set-up and, to a much lesser extent, the principle and the future of European integration. Moreover, the Facebook public extensively commented on the level of inclusiveness, particularly bemoaning the lack of inclusiveness of "ordinary" people in EU decision making. Nevertheless, the commentators frequently referred to themselves as "we Europeans" or "we people", opposing themselves to EU, national, or financial "elites". Despite its populist elements, this sense of "we-ness" incepted in social media suggests the capacity of transnational online discussion to foster European digital demos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a temporal perspective for understanding the dynamics of political mobilisation around narratives and counter-narratives of European 'union', which extends back to the Cold War period. As a starting point, it focusses on the narratives by far left and far right Groups about European 'union' in the European Parliament during the 1980s. Analysing narrative entrepreneurs and their storytelling during six debates on reforming the European Communities in the mid-1980s, it shows that the far right at the time latched three functional purposes on to its pro-integration narratives: reducing immigration, facilitating economic reform, and providing security against the communist threat. In contrast, large parts of the far left opposed further integration with counter-narratives. It seems that under changing scope conditions like the end of the Cold War and the transformation of the EC into the EU, narrative entrepreneurs were subsequently able to reappropriate their relatively stable narratives for very different functional needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the Alternative for Germany's campaign for the 2019 European Parliament elections against the backdrop of the phenomenon of "post-truth politics." Post-truth politics is operationalized here as the strategic deployment of misleading frames and argumentative as well as evaluative styles. This has become a standard tool in the repertoire of populist actors, and in German politics, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is a case in point. Despite the party's thematic shift from issues of European integration to migration and multiculturalism, the European Union (EU) still represents an important point of reference in the party's rhetoric. Empirically, this article addresses the importance of post-truth politics in the AfD's campaign by examining the frames and evaluative styles employed by the party and its leading candidates in evoking negative images of the eu, considering in particular social and other digital media as important venues for such processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue focuses on the consequences of the heightened conflict between member states and increased politicization of European affairs for electoral politics in the European Union. In this introduction we begin by outlining three important developments that fuelled the politicization: (a) the common currency; (b) the increased pushback on the EU's open border policies; and (c) the inability of the EU to prevent democratic backsliding in some countries. We then discuss their consequences for EU elections, particularly campaigns, public opinion on Europe and voter behaviour, which are investigated against the backdrop of the 2019 European Parliament elections in the individual articles in this special issue. This introduction provides a contextual framework for these contributions and reflects upon some of its main findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the unexpectedly high turnout in the 2019 European Parliament election, we explore how major transnational policy issues mobilize voters in European electoral contests. Based on the analysis of two data sets, the Eurobarometer post-election survey and the RECONNECT panel survey, we make three important observations. First, European citizens show a higher tendency to participate in European Parliament elections when they attribute greater importance to the issues 'climate change and environment', 'economy and growth', and 'immigration'. Second, having a more extreme opinion on the issue of 'European integration' increases people's likelihood to vote in European elections. Third, the mobilizing effect of personal issue importance is enhanced by the systemic salience that the respective policy issue has during the election campaign. These findings show the relevance of issue mobilization in European Parliament elections as well as its context-dependent nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of political contestation of EU decision making usually focus on the division lines in the European Parliament and, to a lesser extent, the Council of Ministers. This article seeks to broaden the analysis of the contestation of EU politics by conceptualising EU contestation across the EU's 'multilevel parliamentary field'. It distinguishes three ideal-typical structures of contestation – national, inter-institutional, and transnational contestation – and hypothesises that the more institutionalised the mode of EU decision making, the more likely it is that contestation takes place along transnational lines. The article then draws on the empirical literature on multilevel parliamentarism to assess the plausibility of this hypothesis for four modes of EU decision making: EU legislation, executive decisions, policy coordination and institutional design. Finding the hypothesis broadly confirmed, the article concludes that, if the supranational implications of EU decision making are to be appreciated, also less institutionalised decision-making modes require some form of transnational contestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Euroscepticism has become a stable component of the European Parliament. But is there one distinct Euroscepticism in the European Parliament or do various types exist there? Departing from the widely accepted definitions of hard and soft Euroscepticism, we analysed the behaviour of Eurosceptical groups in the European Parliament in order to assess how they differ. Using data from parliamentary questions, we argue that there are substantial differences between these two groups. This suggests that hard and soft Euroscepticisms do not represent different degrees of one phenomenon, but instead refer to two fundamentally different stances towards European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical evidence suggests that most parties in Western Europe do not take centrist policy positions, despite the centripetal force of the voter distribution. While most scholars focus on the reasons for parties' divergence, this paper focuses on the reasons for the electoral failures of parties that take centrist Left–Right positions. This paper demonstrates that centrist parties, such as the British Liberal Democrats and the German FDP, suffer from multidimensional disadvantages. Using the 2014 Chapel Hill Expert Survey and the European Election Studies surveys, I show that centrist parties are systematically disadvantaged regarding non-policy issues, such as competence, integrity, and party unity (i.e. valence issues). Second, I demonstrate that given their valence image there is no set of policy positions centrist parties can take to substantially improve their vote shares. While (Left–Right) centrist parties usually take positions that are far more supportive of European integration than the mass publics, moderating their positions is expected to increase centrist parties' vote-share but not as much as it is expected to increase the vote-share of Christian Democratic parties. These results have important implications for the study of political representation, electoral campaigns, and parties' policy shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review article discusses three books that analyse in depth recent trends in the institutional architecture of the European Union. The three books focus, respectively, on the relations between legislatives and executive at the supranational level and within the member states, the self-empowerment strategies of the European Parliament, and the leadership performance of the President of the European Commission. Against this background, the review article makes some points on the state of the art of the institutional system of the EU twelve years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. The multiple crises that have affected the EU over the last decade have somewhat affected the functioning of its institutions. Meanwhile, any analysis of the European institutional system should fully consider the composite nature of the European constitution and the peculiar interplay of formal and informal institutional change that has marked its evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In September 2019, the European Parliament adopted a resolution that sparked controversy due to its equation of Nazism and Communism. The document made the USSR jointly responsible for the outbreak of the Second World War and accused the Russian government of whitewashing communist crimes and glorifying the Soviet totalitarian regime. This article presents the resolution as the latest expression of a broader discursive process that started with the accession process of the Central and Eastern European countries. To support this hypothesis, I examine the genealogy of the resolution, namely the documents that originally outlined the stances expressed by the latter, as well as the debates at the EU Parliament that preceded its adoption. This analysis highlights in particular two fundamental tendencies, i.e. the entanglement of history and memory characterising the recent discourse on European integration and the frequent identification of the Central and Eastern European member states as victims. In the final paragraphs, I suggest that the construction of a shared 'historical memory' may represent a legitimising framework for the implementation of specific sets of political and economic ideas, but I also note that processes such as the one described in the article may ultimately damage the cohesion among the member states and the ability of the EU institutions to address relevant internal and external issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the European Parliament's July 2018 non-legislative resolution proposing to the European Commission a directive for facilitating social enterprise companies' cross-border activities. The proposal is first situated within the context of the social economy and how the sector has grown in importance to European integration. The proposal and the European Commission's response are then examined. Although the European Commission was not convinced that Member States would be amenable to the proposal, a consensus may already exist that is sufficient to garner their support. Even if this prediction is wrong, however, it is argued that there are reasons to surmise that the proposal will likely be reassessed and ultimately successful at some future point. Finally, the proposal is viewed with a reflexive harmonisation lens. Through the analysis, regulatory issues are identified, and a solution is then suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant perspective of European Parliament (EP) elections is that these are second-order national elections where little is at stake. This Special Issue asks whether this perspective is still valid in view of increased politicisation of European integration and in view of the higher turnout levels at the last EP elections. This introduction provides a general framework for the Special Issue and reflects upon some of its main findings. We argue that EP elections can only be considered first-order if they are primarily about the policies, rather than the polity. Some of the contributions in this Special Issue suggest that this is indeed the case. We reflect upon this and argue that there are reasons to expect that EP elections will become first-order elections in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an analysis of the process of forming an Alliance of Liberals and Democrats of Europe on the basis of liberal and liberal-democratic parties in Europe, which began in the middle of the twentieth century. In the end, ALDE united the majority of liberal democ- ratic and liberal parties from most EU member states. Today, this party is the third political force in the European Union, after the Conservatives of the European People’s party and the Socialists and Social Democrats of the Party of European Socialists. The article analyzes how the representation of liberal parties from different EU member states in the European Parliament and the European Commission has changed, as well as their participation in the governments and parliaments of indi- vidual countries at the present time. The party’s program documents for the 2019 European elections were reviewed. The results of the ALDE parliamentary group’s work in the current composi- tion of the European Parliament are presented.