Vertical inroads of religion into European parliamentary politics: how socialisation and national party affiliation shape German MEPs’ consideration of religion

Abstract

ABSTRACT German members of the European Parliament (MEPs) offer a particularly interesting subject to study when aiming to explore religious influence in Europe’s multilevel parliamentary politics. German MEPs not only represent the largest share of parliamentarians, but also originate from a country context where until very recently, the ruling parties promoted close ties between politics and religion. Relying on an online survey and interviews with MEPs collected as part of the Religion in the European Parliament and in European multilevel governance II (RelEP2) project, this study explores the religious profile of German MEPs. It contrasts it with the profile of national parliamentarians, and discusses how national characteristics such as political socialisation and state-church relationship inroad German MEPs’ attitudes and behaviour. We discover that in European parliamentary politics, the influence of religion is often more unconscious. This interpretation, however, is very much affected by the individual socialisation of German MEPs and the strategies of their national parties, exemplifying the dominance of vertical inroads of religion over horizontal ones.