Holding Europe Accountable Nationally: Media, Parliaments and Voting in Europe

Abstract

AbstractWhile the EU’s importance has grown for decision-making, both in politics and policies, following a decade of crises, its accountability mechanisms at the EU level have remained largely untouched. Most of the studies which research the way the EU is being legitimised focus on the European Parliament elections. In this book, we argue that to understand how EU accountability works, it is necessary to focus instead on national elections and the national political environment. While this channel of accountability has been long established, it still remains, to this day, poorly understood. Beyond establishing its importance, with a multi-methods approach and in comparative perspective, the book explores the national contexts which foster or discourage the expression of EU preferences at the national ballot box. Through a detailed analysis of longitudinal trends in EU politicisation in media and parliamentary debates from 2002 to 2019, as well as their impact on EU issue voting in national elections held between 2019 and 2021 in six European countries, the book establishes rigorously the paths of European accountability at the national level, its propitious contexts, and whether the paths are similar from Greece to Germany. The findings have implications for both national and European Union democracy, underlining the importance that national institutions have in enabling citizens to hold the EU accountable.