Does personalisation further Europeanise national public spheres? The Spitzenkandidat process in the 2014 and 2019 European parliamentary elections

ABSTRACT

This paper explores whether the lead candidates process for the European Commission’s Presidency (Spitzenkandidat) increases the Europeanisation of national public spheres to a certain extent. National public spheres are likely to be Europeanised when simultaneous discussions of the same topics take place across member states and under the same criteria of relevance. Focusing on the media-related public sphere, the research employs quantitative content analysis and qualitative frame analysis in the German, Luxembourgish, French, Belgian, Spanish, Italian, Greek, and British press for the 2014 and 2019 European elections. While in 2014, the salience of the Spitzenkandidat process was relevantly high, despite certain country- and media-specific variations, in 2019, the press coverage dropped off by almost half. At the same time, most of the selected newspapers reported on the issue using the same criteria of relevance, namely, similar frames and meaning structures.

KEYWORDS:

• Spitzenkandidat
• European elections
• European Commission
• election campaigns
• Europeanisation
• public sphere
• European public sphere

Notes

1 Stergios Fotopoulos is information and communication agent at the Commission’s Directorate-General for Communication. The views set out in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the EU. Neither the EU institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.

2 As Margrethe Vestager and Guy Verhofstadt played a key role in the ALDE’s campaign, participating in the televised debates held before the elections, the analysis focuses on them, excluding the rest of the candidates of the Liberals’ ‘Team Europe’.

3 Women and servants/slaves were excluded.

4 Whoever did not want to participate within koina was considered as an idiot.

5 European Parliament (2019). Turnout by country (%). https://europarl.europa.eu/election-results-2019/en/turnout/ in conjunction with Spring Eurobarometer (2019) Closer to the citizens, closer to the ballot. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/files/be-heard/eurobarometer/2019/closer-to-the-citizens-closer-to-the-ballot/report/en-eurobarometer-2019.pdf.

6 Factiva is a business information and research tool owned by Dow Jones & Company, aggregating content from both licensed and free sources, and providing organizations with search, alerting, dissemination, and other information management capabilities. Factiva combines over 32,000 sources to provide its users, access to premium content from 200 countries, in 28 languages. Users have access to a wide range of information from newspapers and newswires amongst others. For further details, please visit https://www.dowjones.com/about/.

7 See chapter 5.

8 Haz.de. In der EU beginnt jetzt der Posten-Poker – das müssen Sie dazu wissen; Europawahlen, 27 May 2019.

9 ABC. ‘Francia no es el enfermo de Europa pero debe reducir el gasto’, 25 April 2014.

10 Süddeutsche Zeitung. Junckers Chancen steigen, 28 May 2014.

11 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Machtkampf im altrömischen Stil, 31 May 2014.

12 El País. Los líderes reaccionan al latigazo electoral, 28 May 2014.

13 Haz.de. In der EU beginnt jetzt der Posten-Poker – das müssen Sie dazu wissen; Europawahlen, 27 May 2019.

14 Le Figaro. À Bruxelles, le début des grandes manoeuvres pour les « top jobs », 29 May 2019.

15 Telegraph.co.uk. Emmanuel Macron embarrassed by Marine Le Pen in elections but emerges as EU kingmaker, 27 May 2019.

16 El País. La batalla por la cúpula comunitaria amenaza con bloquear la UE, 10 May 2019.

17 Faz.net. Von Allianzen und taktischen Spielchen, 28 May 2019, and Il Corriere della Sera. Nuovi schieramenti; Un'Europa in cerca di leader, 31 May 2019.

18 La Libre Belgique. La course pour les postes est lancée, en mode mineur; Union européenne, 29 May 2019.

19 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Der wackelnde Spitzenkandidat, 14 May 2019.

20 Le Figaro. Après les élections, le casse-tête de la répartition des grands postes, 25 May 2019.

21 Tageblatt. Brüssel spielt „Game of Thrones“, 28 May 2019.

22 Lemonde.fr. La drôle de campagne européenne, 2 May 2014.

23 Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung. Griechenland: „Merkel oder Griechenland“ – mit dieser Losung ist Alexis Tsipras, 26 May 2014

24 La Repubblica. Nomine Ue, Lagarde sfida Schulz e l'Italia gioca la carta Bonino; L'Europa Verso le elezioni. Cambia il metodo di designazione dei vertici delle istituzioni, 6 April 2014.

25 Bild. Europa-Wahl; Worum es wirklich geht – und was die Parteien am Wahlkampf verdienen, 11 May 2014.

26 Le Monde. Les dossiers urgents qui attendent les Vingt-Huit, 6 May 2014.

27 Bild. Europa-Wahl; Worum es wirklich geht – und was die Parteien am Wahlkampf verdienen, 11 May 2014.

28 Ι Kathimerini. Weber: I Evropi den tha prepei na plironei ta lathi tou Tsipra, 8 May 2019.

29 Protothema.gr. Diethnis Typos gia Weber: Ksekinise tin ekstrateia tou stin Athina eno o Tsipras ton apokalei anthellina, 24 April 2019.

30 Peloponissos. Syriza: Autos einai o eklektos tou k. Mitsotaki, 23 April 2019.

31 Faz.net. Weber will Einwegplastik auf der ganzen Welt verbieten, 21 April 2019.

32 Haz.de. In der EU beginnt jetzt der Posten-Poker – das müssen Sie dazu wissen; Europawahlen, 27 May 2019.

33 ABC. “Francia no es el enfermo de Europa pero debe reducir el gasto”, 25 April 2014.

34 Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung. Mister Europa schaut herein – und herab, 28 April 2014.

35 Lemonde.fr. Européennes : qui sont les candidats à la Commission?, 12 March 2014.

36 Protothema.gr. Kai episimos ipopsifios tou EPP gia tin proedria tis Commission o Juncker, 7 March 2104.

37 Journal.lu. Netter Opa, 28 April 2014.

38 Tageblatt. Europapolitik; Warum Juncker nicht EU-Kommissionspräsident werden sollte, 24 March 2014.

39 Lefigaro.fr. Guy Verhofstadt : le fédéraliste faiseur de rois, 24 May 2014.

40 El Mundo. Quiero votar a Verhofstadt ¿Qué hago?, 18 May 2014.

41 Bild. Streit um künftigen EU-Kommissions-Präsidenten, 30 May 2014.

42 Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung. Schwerer Säbel gegen leichtes Florett, 9 May 2014.

43 El Mundo. Quiero votar a Verhofstadt ¿Qué hago?, 18 May 2014.

44 Lemonde.fr. Européennes : qui sont les candidats à la Commission?, 12 March 2014.

45 The Daily Telegraph. A big anti–EU vote could make things worse, 21 May 2014. The Daily Telegraph. Euro parliament president accused of ‘political hijack’, 28 March 2014.

46 Tageblatt. Juncker und Schulz für TTIP, 20 May 2014

47 Lalibre.be. Juncker et Schulz peinent à marquer leurs différences, 9 April 2014.

48 Le Figaro. À Bruxelles, les socialistes européens défendent une nouvelle coalition sans le PPE, 16 May 2020.

49 L’ Opinion. Droite classique et sociaux-démcrates ne détiennent plus, à eux deux, la majorité absolue des sièges d’eurodéputés, 27 May 2019.