scholarly journals Communicating Political Positions on European Issues: A Comparison of Parties and Newspapers in Seven Countries

2020 ◽  
pp. 147892992095200
Author(s):  
Melanie Leidecker-Sandmann ◽  
Beatrice Eugster
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Newspaper Coverage ◽  
Press Releases ◽  
National Quality ◽  
European Parliament Elections

This article starts from the observation that most voters know relatively little about positions and plans of political parties, especially when European Union politics is concerned. One reason for this could be that the main sources for political information, party communication and mass media coverage, provide voters only little concrete information about positions and plans of political parties. We ask how concretely, respectively vaguely, political parties and mass media communicate political positions prior to the 2014 European Parliament elections. We conducted a quantitative content analysis of all European Union–related press releases from 46 national political parties and of all European Union–related articles of 14 national quality newspapers from 7 European countries 12 weeks before the 2014 European Parliament elections. Our analysis shows that press releases as well as media coverage contain more concrete political positions on European Union issues than vague political statements. Other than expected, newspaper coverage provided the public with less concrete information than political actors did. Nevertheless, countries vary with regard to the extent to which party communication or newspaper coverage contain vague statements. We cannot find empirical support that the communication of concrete political positions depends on a party’s “extremity” of issue position or on the type of issue.

Falling on Deaf Ears? Exploring the Effects of Newspaper Coverage of the European Parliament on Public Support for it

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 186-210
Author(s):  
Olga Eisele
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Public Support ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Political Information ◽  
Newspaper Coverage ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The People ◽  
The Uk

Abstract The European Parliament (EP) is the only directly elected institution at the European Union (EU) level, and its empowerment was long regarded to quasi-automatically lead to greater legitimacy of EU politics. The strength of the EP has grown continuously. However, this has not translated into greater appreciation of a crisis-ridden EU which seems more fundamentally questioned than ever before. Starting from the assumption that mass media serve as the most important source of political information and therefore as a crucial connective interface, we explore newspaper contents about the EP and their effects on public support for it to assess the actual link between the people’s representation at EU level and the people at home. The analysis is conducted for EP elections of 2009 and 2014 in Finland, Germany and the UK. Results suggest that effects of coverage on public support of the EP became stronger and more direct in 2014, which is explained by the increased salience of EU politics in times of crisis. However, expectations of what the EP is or should be may have to be adapted to the reality of a second-order parliament.

Die neunten Direktwahlen zum Europäischen Parlament: Rahmenbedingungen, Parteien und Bürger in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 715-735
Author(s):  
Daniela Braun ◽  
Markus Tausendpfund
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Significant Loss ◽  
The Other ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Elections ◽  
The One ◽  
European Parliament Elections

Despite a higher turnout, the ninth elections to the European Parliament can still be considered as second-order elections . In Germany, the governing parties - in particular the CDU and SPD - experienced a significant loss compared to the 2017 Bundestag elections and the 2014 European elections, whereas the Greens are the winners . The article provides information on the conditions framing the European Parliament elections and focuses on political parties and citizens . The empirical findings show, on the one hand, that the European integration issue is more salient in the manifestos than generally assumed and, on the other hand, that citizens’ knowledge of the European Union continues to be low . Against this background, turnout, electoral choices and reasons for these are discussed . Moreover, the composition of the newly elected European Parliament and possible implications are described . [ZParl, vol . 50 (2019), no . 4, pp . 715 - 735]

scholarly journals A Vision of the European Union: A Study of Media Coverage of Polish Election Campaigns for the 2019 European Parliament Elections

Politologija ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Stasiak-Jazukiewicz ◽  
Marta Jas-Koziarkiewicz ◽  
Renata Mienkowska - Norkiene
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Research Question ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Research Model ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Model ◽  
The Media ◽  
Setting Theory ◽  
European Parliament Elections

The 2019 European Parliament (EP) elections coincided with the discussions about the need to change the European integration model. These discussions were forced by the refugee crisis and Brexit. In this article, the authors investigate the media representation of programs proposed by Polish political parties in the campaign for EP 2019 elections. The purpose is to determine how the media reported on these programs (media agenda). The research question required the supplementation of the study with an analysis of the political parties’ programs. The research model is based on an agenda-setting theory. The empirical section presents the results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of both media and political agendas, confirming the discrepancy between them.

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

Politics ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Do Citizens Reward Place-Based Policy? Evidence from the European Union

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Senninger
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Election Results ◽  
European Parliament Elections

Governments redistribute ever larger shares of their budgets to enhance the economic performance of specific areas within their jurisdiction. However, there is little evidence about one of the most fundamental questions arising from such place-based policies: Do citizens reward politicians for funding that benefits their local environment? To answer this question, I turn to the European Union and leverage quasi-experimental data from an initiative that distributed vouchers to European municipalities to establish free and high-quality WiFI connectivity before the European Parliament election in 2019. Moreover, I analyze geolocated data about beneficiaries of two major European Union funds, European Parliament election results along with register data from polling stations, and a city-wide survey experiment in Denmark. The results show that European place-based policy has little to no impact on turnout and Eurosceptic voting in European Parliament elections. The findings are discussed in the light of the recently introduced European Union recovery fund to combat economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Time is of the essence: Explaining the duration of European Union lawmaking under the co-decision procedure

2021 ◽  
pp. 019251212110364
Author(s):  
Adam Kirpsza
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Decision Procedure ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Issue Linkage ◽  
Rational Choice Institutionalism ◽  
Legislative Procedure ◽  
Ordinary Legislative Procedure ◽  
European Parliament Elections

The article explores factors affecting the duration of the co-decision procedure (currently the ordinary legislative procedure), the main procedure for adopting legislation in the European Union. Drawing from rational choice institutionalism, it expects the speed of co-decision to be determined by three attributes: the impatience of legislators, issue linkage and the characteristics of Council and European Parliament negotiators ( relais actors). The hypotheses are tested using survival analysis on a dataset of 599 controversial legislative acts submitted and enacted under co-decision between 1999 and 2009. The results show that co-decision proposals are decided faster when they are urgent, negotiated prior to the European Parliament elections and concluded through single proposal logrolls. By contrast, multi-proposal packages and the ideological distance between relais actors prolong decision-making. Overall, the article contributes to the literature by showing that the impatience of legislators, package deals and the properties of negotiators are relevant drivers of co-decision duration.

scholarly journals ‘This time I’m (not) voting’: A comprehensive overview of campaign factors influencing turnout at European Parliament elections

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 680-705
Author(s):  
Franziska Marquart ◽  
Andreas C Goldberg ◽  
Claes H de Vreese
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Political Advertisements ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Online Forms ◽  
European Parliament Elections

Research has investigated numerous factors influencing turnout for European Parliament elections but paid insufficient attention to the role of campaign influences. Using survey data collected in the context of the 2019 European Parliament elections, we assess citizens’ passive exposure to media coverage and political advertisements, active forms of engagement such as visiting a party’s website and interpersonal communication on- and offline. We test to which extent these activities contribute to the likelihood that citizens vote. Our study highlights the importance of information factors beyond well-established turnout determinants. The results confirm the mobilizing influence of a number of variables, but we also find consistent negative effects of online forms of communication and engagement. We discuss these findings with regard to a potentially ‘toxic’ online information environment.

scholarly journals Do European elections enhance satisfaction with European Union democracy?

2020 ◽  
pp. 146511652097028
Author(s):  
Carolina Plescia ◽  
Jean-François Daoust ◽  
André Blais
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
National Identity ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
Union Democracy ◽  
Important Message ◽  
European Parliament Elections

We provide the first individual-level test of whether holding supranational elections in the European Union fosters satisfaction with European Union democracy. First, we examine whether participation at the European Parliament election fosters satisfaction with democracy and whether, among those who participated, a winner–loser gap materializes at the EU level. Second, we examine under which conditions participating and winning in the election affect satisfaction with European Union democracy, focusing on the moderating role of exclusive national identity. Our approach relies on panel data collected during the 2019 European Parliament elections in eight countries. We demonstrate that while participating and winning increase satisfaction, such positive boost does not materialize among those with exclusive national identity. These findings hold an important message: elections are no cure to deep-seated alienation.

Not All ‘Second-Order’ Contests are the Same: Turnout and Party Choice at the Concurrent 2004 Local and European Parliament Elections in England

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 584-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Rallings ◽  
Michael Thrasher
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Party Choice ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
Sizeable Number ◽  
Level Analysis

The European Parliament elections in June 2004 coincided with local elections in many parts of England. In four regions of the country these elections were conducted entirely by postal ballots; in four other regions traditional methods of polling were used. Overall turnout was higher where all-postal voting was in place, but having local in addition to European elections made an independent and significant contribution to the level of electoral participation in all postal and non-postal regions alike. The pattern of party choice at the two types of contest also varied considerably. The three major political parties together took a much larger share of the overall vote at the local than at the European elections, and each independently ‘lost’ a sizeable number of its local votes to smaller parties. Aggregate level analysis suggests that voters assess the importance of electoral contests along a continuum and, in Britain in 2004 at least, treated local elections as less ‘second-order’ than pan-European ones.

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