Introduction: Connecting with the Electorate? Parliamentary Communication in EU Affairs

Abstract

National parliaments have often been described as latecomers to European integration, but there is little doubt that they have developed the institutional means to become more involved over the last few years – and especially since the Lisbon Treaty. Accordingly, the main focus of the literature has been on this institutional adaptation and thus on the relationship between the parliament and the government in European Union (EU) affairs. Other parliamentary functions, and in particular those that relate to their citizens such as the communication function, by contrast, have been largely neglected. Yet democracy depends on a viable public debate on policy choices and political alternatives to allow citizens to make informed political (electoral) choices and to exercise democratic control. This collection therefore investigates whether, and how, individual members of parliament, political parties, or legislatures as institutions ‘link’ with their electorates in EU politics. This introduction discusses why engaging with the public in EU affairs is – or at least should be – an important aspect of parliamentary work, introduces parliamentary means of communication and assesses parliamentary incentives and disincentives ‘to go public’ in EU politics.

Keywords:

• national parliaments
• European Union
• parliamentary communication
• information
• media

Note on Authors

Katrin Auel* is Associate Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Austria, and associate member of the Centre d'études Européennes at Sciences Po, Paris, email: [email protected]; Tapio Raunio is Professor of Political Science at the University of Tampere, Finland, email: [email protected]

Notes

1. For excellent overviews of the literature, see Goetz and Meyer-Sahling (2008), Raunio (2009) and Winzen (2010).

2. The Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union, a parliamentary conference at the EU level consisting of members of European Affairs Committees of national parliaments and members of the European Parliament.

3. For example, in her case study on the Danish scrutiny system, Møller Sousa (2008, p. 441) shows how the incentive structure works against more active involvement in European affairs, with the MPs feeling that neither the media nor the voters are interested in EU matters.