Representations of the European Project

Abstract

This chapter reports on the results of a content analysis of campaign posters and videos issued by the political parties competing for the European Parliamentary elections of 2014 in each of the 28 EU member states. We looked at the portrayal of the European project by comparing the Union’s sub-regions (Continental, Northern, Southern, and Eastern Europe), by contrasting Eurosceptic and Europhile countries, and by looking at the differences between debtor and creditor countries engaged in the 2010 sovereign debt shock. Political advertising in Southern Europe contained more negative attacks than other continental regions, reflecting the hot reaction against austerity policies in Mediterranean countries. Despite their historical low participation in EP elections, the political propaganda in Eastern European member states contained few negative statements and ushered in plenty of national but also European symbols. Surprisingly, the comparison between Eurosceptic and Europhile member states (defined by their degree of approval of European integration in Eurobarometer surveys) offered few differences, perhaps because the economic crisis contributed to subduing the Euro-enthusiam of traditionally supportive member states. Negative statements about the euro were as frequent in Europhile as in Eurosceptic countries, and they were also evenly present in debtor and creditor countries. This might be indicative of a lack of identification between the common currency and the sovereign debt crisis. The EU, however, was more heavily criticized in debtor and creditor countries than in the rest of member states, which reveals that the European project was naturally more contentious among those countries directly involved in the sovereign debt crisis that marred the eurozone after 2010.