A ‘European Year of Citizens’? Looking Beyond Decision 1093/2012: Eyeing the European Elections of 2014

Voters face different incentives to turn out to vote in one electoral arena versus another. Although turnout is lowest in European elections, it is found that the turnout is only slightly lower in regional than in national elections. Standard accounts suggest that the importance of an election, in terms of the policy-making power of the body to be elected, drives variation in turnout across elections at different levels. This chapter argues that this is only part of the story, and that voter attachment to a particular level also matters. Not all voters feel connected to each electoral arena in the same way. Although for some, their identity and the issues they most care about are linked to politics at the national level, for others, the regional or European level may offer the political community and political issues that most resonate with them.

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When do parties put Europe in the centre? Evidence from the 2019 European Parliament election campaign

Politics ◽

10.1177/02633957211008348 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 026339572110083

Author(s):

Michaela Maier ◽

Carlos Jalali ◽

Jürgen Maier ◽

Alessandro Nai ◽

Sebastian Stier

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Political Parties ◽

National Level ◽

European Parliament ◽

Integrated Model ◽

Election Campaign ◽

European Elections ◽

Eu Member States ◽

The Media ◽

Opposition Parties

European elections have been described as second-order phenomena for voters, the media, but also parties. Yet, since 2009, there exists evidence that not only voters, but also political parties assign increasing significance to European elections. While initially ‘issue entrepreneurs’ were held responsible for this development, the latest campaigns have raised the question of whether mainstream parties are finally also campaigning on European issues. In this article, we examine European Union (EU) salience in the 2019 European Parliament (EP) campaigns of government and opposition parties and the predictors of their strategic behaviours. We test the relevance of factors derived from the selective emphasis and the co-orientation approach within an integrated model of strategic campaign communication based on expert evaluations of 191 parties in 28 EU member states. Results show that the traditional expectation that government parties silence EU issues does not hold anymore; instead, the average EU salience of government and opposition parties is similar on the national level. The strongest predictors for a party’s decision to campaign on EU issues are the co-orientation towards the campaign agendas of competing parties, and party’s EU position.

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European elections — Iceland

West European Politics ◽

10.1080/01402388008424298 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 447-449

Author(s):

John Madeley

Keyword(s):

European Elections

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The Making of a President: The European Parliament and the Confirmation of Jacques Santer as President of the Commission

Government and Opposition ◽

10.1111/j.1477-7053.1996.tb00149.x ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 62-76 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Simon Hix ◽

Christopher Lord

Keyword(s):

European Parliament ◽

The Other ◽

The European Union ◽

Political Debate ◽

European Elections ◽

Shared Meanings ◽

Single European Act ◽

The One ◽

Council Of Ministers ◽

The Eu

THE SINGLE EUROPEAN ACT AND THE MAASTRICHT TREATY attempted to balance two principles of representation in their redesign of the institutional structures of the European Union: the one, based on the indirect representation of publics through nationally elected governments in the European Council and Council of Ministers; the other, based on the direct representation of publics through a more powerful European Parliament. There is much to be said for this balance, for neither of the two principles can, on its own, be an adequate solution at this stage in the development of the EU. The Council suffers from a non-transparent style of decision-making and is, in the view of many, closer to oligarchic than to democratic politics. On the other hand, the claims of the European Parliament to represent public sentiments on European integration are limited by low voter participation, the second-order nature of European elections and the still Protean nature of what we might call a transnational European demos. The EU lacks a single public arena of political debate, communications and shared meanings; of partisan aggregation and political entrepreneurship; and of high and even acceptance, across issues and member states, that it is European and not national majority views which should count in collective rule-making.

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Les élections régionales et européennes du 13 juin 2004 : Analyse des résultats

Res Publica ◽

10.21825/rp.v46i2-3.18472 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 46 (2-3) ◽

pp. 357-376

Author(s):

William Fraeys

Keyword(s):

Status Quo ◽

The Other ◽

Socialist Party ◽

Far Right ◽

Green Party ◽

European Elections ◽

Parliamentary Elections ◽

The Third ◽

Main Development ◽

Regional Elections

In Belgium the European elections and those for the regional councils were held on the same day. The elections of June 13th 2004 deserve a threefold analysis. First a comparison can be made with the results obtained five years ago for the same assemblies. lt shows that in Flanders the socialist party has progressed but that this advance was mainly due to the constitution of a cartel with one faction - Spirit - of the defunct Volksunie. The christian democrats made headway, their progress being enhanced by the contribution of N-VA, the other faction stemming from the Volksunie. The liberals declined fairly markedly as did the green party but to a lesser extent than in the elections for the federal parliament. The June 2004 elections saw above all progress for the extreme right Vlaams Blok, which has become the second biggest party of Flanders with 24 pct of the vote. In the Walloon provinces the socialists progress most thereby increasing the gap separating them from the liberals. The christian democrats advance somewhat while the green party Ecolo declines substantially. The parties of the far right gain support and reach 8.73 pct of the vote. In Brussels the socialist advance is very marked allowing this party to conquer first place to the detriment of the liberals who are in decline. The progress made by frenchspeaking christian democrats is significant.A second approach for the analysis consists in comparing the results of the regional elections with those of the European ones. The differences are slight and rnainly due to the popularity of the candidates. In Belgium there was no "eurosceptic" or "sovereignty" list. The third angle consists in comparing the 2004 results with the ones of the parliamentary elections of 2003. One then observes in Flanders a decline of the socialists, a significant fall in support for the liberals and a progression of the christian democrats. But the main development remains the progression of the Vlaams Blok which gains more than 6 pct compared to its good result of 2003. In the Walloon provinces, the socialists remain at their 2003 level but increase their positive gap with regard to the liberals who are in decline. The christian democrats advance by some 2 pct whereas Ecolo recovers a small part of its 2003 loss. The parties of the far right gain some 1.5 pct. In Brussels, the most noteworthy developrnent is the progress of the frenchspeaking socialists who take over the first place from the liberals.In genera!lthese elections are characterised by a reinforcement of the far right to the detriment of the centre parties and by a status quo of the aggregate consisting of socialists and greens, but to the benefit of the former.

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Le parlement européen : Comparaison des résultats de juin 1979 et portrait de l'Assemblée élue

Res Publica ◽

10.21825/rp.v22i3.19376 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 471-501

Author(s):

Dusan Sidjanski

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

European Community ◽

European Parliament ◽

General Distribution ◽

The Political ◽

European Elections ◽

Minor Parties ◽

The Past ◽

Democratic Control ◽

Comparison Of The Results

The results of the first European elections reflect the general distribution of the European electorate slightly center-right oriented, even if the abstentionism of almost 40 % caused some distorsions as in the case of United Kingdom. After the comparison of the results, state by state, it appears globally that the socialists ( 113) and liberals (40) regressed, the gaullists and their allies (22) suffered a serious defeat, white the christian democrats ( 107) and the communists (44) progressed and some minor parties (leftists and regionalists) entered the European Parliament.The second part contains a portrait of the new European Parliament which is younger than its predecessor, has more women including its president and has many high personnalities. As in the past, the political groupsplay a central and dynamic role. The question is to know if they will be capable of maintaining their cohesion. The examined cases give no evidence of the existence of the center-right majority in front of the left opposition. In fact, there were changing coalitions and voting constellations according to different problems, ideological options or concrete choices. The recent vote rejecting the proposed budget expresses a will of the European Parliament to impose its style and its democratic control on the European Community.

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Party organization and gender in European elections

Party Politics ◽

10.1177/1354068818806630 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 26 (5) ◽

pp. 675-688 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Andrea S Aldrich

Keyword(s):

Political Institutions ◽

Candidate Selection ◽

Gender Quotas ◽

Selection Procedures ◽

European Elections ◽

Party Strategy ◽

Promote Gender Equality ◽

Level I ◽

And Gender ◽

Elected Office

Political parties often monopolize the flow of politicians into elected office making it important to understand when, and under what conditions, parties are more or less likely to promote gender equality in representation. This article argues that party choices to nominate women in elections are conditional on the centralization of candidate selection within the party. Gender quotas and characteristics of the electoral environment have differential effects on candidate lists across party types. Leveraging data at the party level, I test when it is electorally feasible and organizationally possible for parties to nominate women for office. I find that candidate selection procedures condition the effects of party strategy and characteristics of the electoral environment on the percentage of women on electoral lists. The results provide insight into how strategic party choices, attenuated by electoral considerations and organization, impact the diversity of representation in political institutions.

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