European Parliamentary Elections 2004: Studies on Political Campaigning and Media Framing of a Second-Order Event

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Notes

Although in almost all EU countries, participation in EP elections and EU-related referendums has usually been lower than in national equivalents, support for the European integration process has not shrunk significantly over the last 2 decades (see Thomassen and Schmitt, 1999). However, there are considerable differences regarding the average support rates in different “established” EU member states, indicating legitimacy deficits particularly among the Scandinavian countries, Britain, Austria, and the Flemish part of Belgium. In addition to that, support rates are significantly lower in the new member states in which the EP elections 2004 were, as a consequence, also converted more often into vehicles of protest against the EU (e.g., Rohrschneider and Whitefield, 2006).

We would like to thank all colleagues for their important contributions to this issue and especially Lynda Lee Kaid for her outstanding commitment in the review process.

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Notes on contributors

Jens Tenscher

Jens Tenscher is Junior Professor for Political Science with a specialization in Political Sociology, and Michaela Maier is Professor of Applied Communication Psychology at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany.