Promising Europe: EU Related Pledges and their Fulfilment in Hungarian Party Manifestos (1998–2010)

Abstract

This study analyses the election manifestos of Hungarian parties in campaigns between 1998 and 2006, for the purpose of assessing the significance and nature of EU-related promises. Three campaigns and government terms are studied: one prior to EU accession, a second around the time Hungary became a Member State and the third after joining the EU. The study follows the mandate view of representative government and the pledge approach for exploring election manifestos. Three main categories of EU-related pledges are discussed: firstly, pledges related to values associated with the European Union, secondly, pledges on adaptation to its institutions, policies, and norms, and finally pledges that promised availability and use of EU funds. The findings are that only a small proportion of election pledges was EU-related, and few were specific enough to test their later fulfilment by governments. We maintain that our results show how undisputed the issue of Hungarian membership was before 2010. But this lack of EU-related conflicts diminished the information content of manifestos regarding accession.