Italian Parties and Europe: Problems of Identity, Representation and Scope of Governance in the Euromanifestos (1989–2004)

Abstract

This article analyses the nature of Italian political parties' attitudes towards the EU. Three main dimensions of the EU process and of its impact on the member states are focused upon: identity, representation and scope of governance. We document how these three dimensions structure the programmatic offer on the EU of the party system and how this structure has changed over time. Then, we analyse the preferences of the individual parties along these three dimensions so as to document their attitudes toward the EU. Finally, we conclude by explaining the attitudes of the Italian parties in the light of the main theoretical arguments available in the literature. The analysis shows that the Italian case has over-stepped the exceptional consensus on the EU that emerged in the country by the end of the 1980s, and has joined the typical pattern of competition on the EU that opposes the centre-left to the centre-right and, less intensely than elsewhere, moderate to radical parties.