Electoral responses to the increased contestation over European integration. The European Elections of 2019 and beyond
| Author | Claes H. de Vreese,Wouter van der Brug,Katjana Gattermann |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14651165211036263 |
| Subject Matter | Introduction |
Electoral responses to the
increased contestation over
European integration. The
European Elections of 2019
and beyond
Wouter van der Brug
Amsterdam School of Social Science Research, Department of
Political Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands
Katjana Gattermann
Amsterdam School of Communication Research, Department of
Communication Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Claes H. de Vreese
Amsterdam School of Communication Research, Department of
Communication Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Abstract
This special issue focuses on the consequences of the heightened conflict between mem-
ber states and increased politicization of European affairs for electoral politics in the
European Union. In this introduction we begin by outlining three important develop-
ments that fuelled the politicization: (a) the common currency; (b) the increased push-
back 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
Corresponding author:
Wouter van der Brug, Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 15578, 1001,
Amsterdam, NB, The Netherlands.
Email: w.vanderbrug@uva.nl
Introduction
European Union Politics
2022, Vol. 23(1) 3–20
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/14651165211036263
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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.
Keywords
European elections, euroscepticism, media campaigns, parties, voters
Introduction
World politics has been constantly under stress in recent years struggling to tackle climate
change, provide humanitarian aid to refugees, fight racism and social inequality, pacify
wars and contest dictatorships, and more recently combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Because of the global nature of several of these issues, it seems difficult to imagine
how any of these could be addressed without international collaboration. So, the
European Union (EU) as an international organisation is well poised to play a major
role in discussions on e.g. climate change and refugee issues. However, the EU has
been jumping from one existential crisis to the next over the past decade: the financial
crisis leading to bailouts from 2010 onwards, the refugee crisis in 2015 (and onwards),
the outcome of the Brexit referendum in 2016 and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020,
whose long-term consequences for European democracies and economies are not yet
foreseeable.
Where European integration would require a willingness of the member states to show
solidarity with other member states that are mostly affected by these crises, we have seen
the opposite responses from the governments (Kuhn, 2019; Zeitlin et al., 2019).
Heightened conflict in the EU can, furthermore, be understood through the lens of poli-
ticization (Hutter and Grande, 2014: 1003). While European integration is central to
explaining its scope, politicization primarily takes place in domestic political contexts
(Kriesi, 2016) as a consequence of handing more authority to the EU (De Wilde and
Zürn, 2012; Hooghe and Marks, 2009). Empirically, politicization can be observed in
three central dimensions, namely increased salience of European issues, actor expansion,
particularly to non-governmental actors, and polarization of public opinion and elite
stances (e.g. De Wilde et al., 2016; Hutter and Grande, 2014).
With respect to polarization, we have seen an increased emphasis on national iden-
tities, and we see strong anti-immigration sentiments (Hooghe and Marks, 2018;
Hutter and Kriesi, 2019). Eurosceptic political parties and movements benefit from
these sentiments and fuel them as well (Rooduijn et al., 2016). Populist parties that chal-
lenge the existence of the EU are no longer just at the political fringes, but have been gov-
erning (either as members of a coalition or as government support parties) in member
states such as Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. In the
run up to the European Parliament (EP) elections of 2019 politicians like Frans
Timmermans, the Spitzenkandidat (lead candidate)
1
of the European Socialists, and
several pundits have told us that ‘the future of Europe is at stake’at these elections –
underlining the increased salience of European affairs.
2
From the perspective of those
4European Union Politics 23(1)
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