Abstract
This chapter shifts the analytical focus from individual parties to the EU party system, tackling the question of the competitiveness of the EP party system after the ‘mega’ enlargement of the Union. As I argued in Chapter 1, competition is a key feature of a democratic political system. As Randall and Svasand (2002, p. 6) put it: ‘To the extent that the process of party system institutionalization is seen as contributing to democratic consolidation, the implication is that the type of party system must entail a certain level of competition.’ They illustrate the case of an ‘institutionalized’, but not really ‘democratic’ party system with reference to Mexico, where political parties are strong but, until recently, no other party was really able to challenge the hegemonic Institutional Revolutionary Party.
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