How voters hold the European People’s Party accountable in European Parliament elections

Abstract

The established consensus is that voters do not hold European Union leaders accountable for their management of the economy in European Parliament elections, which contributes to the EU’s democratic deficit. However, the existing research misses a comparison between those who feel that the national government is responsible for their economic situation and those who feel the EU is responsible. The analysis is based on surveys of the 28 EU members. I find that when one assigns more responsibility to the EU than the national government for national economic conditions, satisfaction with the economy increases the likelihood of voting for the European People’s Party, the dominant party group in the EU. This study presents the first evidence of individuals’ accountability-holding behaviour towards the EPP.

Keywords:

• European People’s Party
• voting behaviour
• public opinion
• European Parliament
• elections