Members Of The European Parliament Research Articles

Access for all? Socio-demographic biases and interest group access to the European Parliament

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the access that interest groups secure to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). It examines whether and how interest group access is influenced by the socio-demographic characteristics of lobbying teams and politicians, including gender and national origin. Guided by similarity attraction theory, the study hypothesises that interest groups staffed by lobbyists from underprivileged socio-demographic backgrounds (i.e., women, Central and Eastern European, or non-EU origin) are less likely to secure access to MEPs. However, it suggests that MEPs from similar backgrounds are less susceptible to such biases. To test these expectations, the study utilises a combination of door pass data to the European Parliament, reported meetings on the European Parliament's website, and desk research. The results show that lobbying teams with a balanced gender composition are more likely to secure access to MEPs, and that similarities in gender and national origin facilitate interactions between MEPs and lobbying teams. The study offers valuable insights into the inclusiveness and socio-demographic biases within EU public affairs.

Implicit hierarchies in the EU representation of refugees: a comparative text-analysis of the European Parliament's framing of Syrian and Ukrainian diasporas

Abstract The article explores the discursive representations of Syrian and Ukrainian refugees in the European Parliament (EP). The theoretical framework draws on Critical Securitisation Theory, pointing out the implicit hierarchies that affect the European Union (EU) reception policies in terms of race and gender. The main hypothesis is that a stigmatisation process based on race and gender affects the representation of refugees in the EU. Against this backdrop, the manuscript delves into how speech acts can either cast refugees as urgent threats or even facilitate the de-construction of the refugee as a threat. These are investigated through Computational Text-Analysis tools, such as Word- and Bigram-Frequency Analysis, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency test and Structural Topic Modelling. On the one hand, contrary to expectations of a securitisation of Syrian refugees primarily based on race, what emerges is also a process of de-personalisation that helps justify the anti-migration stand of some members of the EP (MEPs). On the other hand, the assumption that deconstruction of the refugee as a threat would mainly occur through an emphasis on cultural proximity between Ukrainian people and the EU is challenged. Instead, our analysis shows a gender-based victimisation of Ukrainian refugees, which contributes leading to protective measures being enacted by the EU.

Lаnguаgе аnd Pоlitiсаl Imаgе: Аnаlуsis оf thе Fасеbооk Prоfilеs оf Pеtаr Vоlgin аnd Nikоlа Minсhеv during the Election Campaign for Members of the National Assembly and Members of the European Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria in June 2024.

Thе аrtiсlе will еxаminе thе rоlе оf lаnguаgе in shаping thе pоlitiсаl imаgе оf twо prоminеnt figurеs during thе 2024 еlесtiоn саmpаign. Thе fосus is оn thеir Fасеbооk pоsts, аnаlуzing thе linguistiс strаtеgiеs usеd аnd thеir impасt оn thе саndidаtеs’ pоlitiсаl imаgе. Thе studу will highlight thе impоrtаnсе оf sосiаl mеdiа аs а plаtfоrm fоr pоlitiсаl соmmuniсаtiоn аnd suppоrtеrs’ mоbilizаtiоn, аs wеll аs thе nееd tо аdаpt lаnguаgе tо thе spесifiс саpаbilitiеs оf еасh plаtfоrm fоr еffесtivе vоtеr еngаgеmеnt. Thе аrtiсlе will аlsо еmphаsizе thе signifiсаnсе оf using lаnguаgе аs а kеу tооl fоr pеrsuаsiоn аnd influеnсing publiс pеrсеptiоn.

Sceptics, Enthusiasts, or Architects? The British Labour Group, the European Parliament and Workers’ Rights, 1979–1989

The European Parliament influenced policy, and was a forum for the airing and sharing of a wide array of views and approaches to forms of European integration. Often conflicted and divided, members of the British Labour Group, comprising of the elected Labour Party representatives to the European Parliament, viewed the European Economic Community as a key platform and means through which workers’ rights could be supported. And many Labour Party Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), including sceptics, enthusiasts and those whose views changed, played a part in shaping the European Economic Community. This was particularly so with workers’ rights, an area which was central to the Labour Party, the European Parliament and the European Economic Community in the 1980s. The European Parliament was an instrumental institution in terms of building ties across borders and shaping and changing perspectives on key policy areas.

Feminist institutional responses to anti-gender politics in parliamentary contexts

ABSTRACT In the context of the prevalence of anti-gender politics in Europe, political institutions such as parliaments have become arenas of political struggles around gender and gender equality. While feminist scholarship has studied anti-gender politics, less attention has been paid to feminist responses to such opposition. The contribution of this article is to conceptualize feminist responses to anti-gender politics within political institutions, which we name feminist institutional responses. This conceptualization entails proposing a set of analytical categories for capturing forms of feminist institutional responses – namely, knowledge, coalition building, rule making, and everyday pragmatic engagement. We analyze 50 plenary debates on gender equality and two plenary debates on the State of the Union, as well as 135 interviews with members of the European Parliament and political staff during two terms that witnessed a rise in anti-gender politics, 2014–2019 and 2019–2024. The conceptualization of feminist institutional responses to anti-gender politics in parliaments is important for identifying how institutional actors are countering the destructive potential of anti-gender politics and safeguarding parliaments as democratic sites for the advancement of gender equality policies.

The (De‐)Europeanization of the Political Class in the European Parliament: A Longitudinal Analysis of Members of the European Parliament's Career Patterns (1979–2019)

AbstractThis article presents a systematic empirical analysis of the career patterns of all 3634 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who served in the European Parliament (EP) over the last 40 years (1979–2019). It explains how changes in the EP's structure of opportunities have shaped the development of MEPs' career patterns. First, we show that the development of a European political class is not a recent trend but that this process took place in the early days of the EP (as soon as in the 1984–1989 term), albeit with variance across political groups of the European Parliament (EPGs) and Member States. Second, we observe that the transformation of party systems and electoral volatility have been questioning the existence of the European political class. Overall, we conclude that legislative institutions are only as strong as the individuals who are called to serve them. Recent rises in the EP's turnover could ultimately undermine the EP's formal policy‐making capacity in the middle and long terms.

What Do Politicians Think of Technocratic Institutions? Attitudes in the European Parliament Towards the European Central Bank

AbstractTechnocracy has come to be increasingly regarded as a threat to representative democracy. Significant attention has thus been recently devoted to exploring public preferences towards technocratic institutions. Elected policy‐makers' attitudes have instead not been investigated as systematically. This article fills this gap by examining politicians' views on central banks. Based on an original elite survey of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), we gauged elected policy‐makers' attitudes towards the mandate and policy conduct of the European Central Bank (ECB). Our findings show that the political orientation of politicians largely drives attitudes towards the ECB's institutional mandate. Interestingly, the findings from two experiments embedded in the survey also show that the attitudes of MEPs are not as static as ideological orientations would lead us to expect. The information set to which politicians are exposed significantly shapes their views on both the ECB's mandate and its policy conduct, but less on ECB independence.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: GENDER ASPECT OF LAW-MAKING PROCESS

The article attempts to understand to what extent the gender identity of members of the European Parliament initiating a bill determines the subject and nature (feminine or masculine) of the issued legal acts. The research question is whether there is an influence of gender in relation to the subject and nature of regulations adopted by the European Parliament. The chronological period under study is 2009-2022 and is determined by the available open data. For the purpose of the study, a proprietary database was compiled, where the units of analysis are regulations issued by the European Parliament within the framework of the ordinary legislative procedure. The sample population consisted of 1155 observations. The key method of analysis was qualitative descriptive statistical analysis. The calculations were made within the framework of the freely distributed software Orange Data Mining. The results of the analysis demonstrate in general the lack of influence of the gender aspect in relation to the nature and subject of regulations and laws issued by the European Parliament. The gender of parliamentarians-initiators is not a factor determining the nature and subject matter of legislative acts issued by the European Parliament. The results of the analysis, therefore, refute the null hypothesis and confirm the alternative hypothesis: the nature (feminine/masculine) of the bills initiated and regulations adopted by the European Parliament does not depend on the gender factor (that is, on the gender of the deputy who initiated the bill).

Police patrols, fire alarms, or ambulance chasers? Parliamentary oversight of European monetary policy and banking supervision

The parliamentary oversight of the European Central Bank (ECB) is frequently criticised for its lack of focus in both monetary policy and banking supervision. While Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) can publicly question ECB decisions in these fields, they often use committee hearings for other purposes, such as expressing political positions on issues that may or may not be related to ECB activities. This article aims to conceptualise such variation by expanding the seminal distinction between ‘police patrols’ and ‘fire alarms’ to include two novel categories – ‘planning bureaus’ and ‘ambulance chasers’. To illustrate the applicability of our typology, the article provides the first systematic comparison of the Monetary and the Banking Dialogues (2014–2021), combining a qualitative content analysis of 1,504 parliamentary questions with insights from interviews with MEPs. The findings highlight the pervasiveness of fire alarms and ambulance chasing in the parliamentary practice of overseeing the ECB.

The European Parliament as the voice of the European citizens? Examining the European Parliament’s role as a representative of the European citizens in the 2019 elections

The European Parliament is considered a solution to the democratic deficit because the citizens of the EU directly elect it. This article aims to examine the validity of this claim. Concerning representativeness, the focus is on the homogeneity of rules and procedures used for electing the members of the European Parliament (MEPs). This homogeneity is considered as necessary for the EP to represent the EU citizens. Thus, it aims to assess the impact of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union on the level of homogeneity of the rules used to conduct the 2019 European Parliament elections. This work claims that the European Parliament's role as representative of European Citizens is weakened by the consistent level of heterogeneity characterising the electoral rules used to elect it and that the withdrawal of the UK and the partial redistribution of seats simultaneously increased and decreased the level of homogeneity of the rules used to elect the MEPs.

European Union politicians debating European language education policy

The European Union’s (EU) high regard for multilingualism and linguistic diversity is expressed through its language education policy (LEP), a policy adopted by the European Parliament, which represents all EU member states. However, as education falls within the remit of the member states, EU LEP has an advisory function only. Support for the LEP at national level is thus crucial. By analysing a significant parliamentary discussion by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), this article asks what evidence there is that MEPs support the EU’s goals of learning the mother tongue plus two foreign languages (1+2), and of learning a diversity of languages at school. Secondly, the article investigates current evidence of the success of EU LEP in terms of developing dual language capacities, and of maintaining diversity in language learning. Figures on the learning of two languages, on the learning of English, and on linguistic diversity are compared, covering the last decade. The results reveal that although the training of dual linguists has stagnated, no MEP expressed concerns that the EU goals of 1+2 are not being met. MEPs are, however, concerned with protecting ‘their’ national languages, and the smaller ‘their’ own language(s), the more so. Furthermore, only representatives of large EU languages express concern over English dominance in the EU’s education systems. Thus, parliamentary representatives of smaller languages unite in solidarity for greater status recognition of their language, while MEPs’ support for the EU LEP goal of 1+2 is at best patchy. The article concludes that, given the limited remit of EU LEP, discrepancies between European recommendations and national practices are somewhat inevitable, and that to improve on the 1+2 goal and counter English dominance across education systems in the EU, member states need to be better supported to appreciate and disseminate the rationales for dual language learning (1+2) and diversity in language learning.

Two degrees versus two percent How central bankers and members of the European Parliament developed a common pro-climate narrative

ABSTRACT The new ECB leadership made it its explicit priority to make ECB’s policies greener. Although doubt remains about the scale and effectiveness of the policies implemented since then, the idea that the ECB has a role to play in the fight against climate change has become widely accepted. The main narrative in support of this idea states that the ECB’s pro-climate engagement is part of its primary mandate – price stability. However, until not long ago, ECB’s primary mandate was rather used by those opposing the greening of central banking, while it was largely ignored by pro-climate advocates. How has this narrative emerged and gained traction? This paper argues that this narrative results from a process of coalition-building between pro-climate central bankers and pro-climate politicians in the European Parliament. Building on a multi-method text analysis of original datasets of accountability communications as well as in-depth interviews, this paper documents the mechanisms through which pro-climate central bankers and pro-climate MEPs co-constructed the pro-climate narrative, using accountability relationships as a coalition-building arena. The paper contributes to ongoing discussions on central banks’ accountability, politicisation and role in the green transition.

Did Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unite Europe? Cohesion and divisions of the European Parliament on Twitter

ABSTRACT The EU has been on track toward growing disunity along geographical and political lines, expressed in growing anti-EU sentiments and the rise of Euroskeptic forces. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seems to have functioned as a source of unity – revitalizing the European project by creating alliances in response to an external threat. However, as the war drags on, it begs the question of how brittle its new-found unity may be. This study thus seeks to examine the extent to which the war has mended the geographical and political divisions in the EU. Focusing on elite cohesion, we analyse social media interaction to provide a relational view of the alliances of the members of the European Parliament. We find that parliamentarians did not become more cohesive: East-Western division remains pronounced, and Euroskeptic political groups became further isolated. These findings imply that Euroskeptic groups will likely continue to be a source of contestation inside of the European Union.

Transnational Affect and the Making of a Moral Public: The War on Drugs in the Philippines

In 2019, IBON International and the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines UK (CHRP-UK) made preparations for some relatives of some of the victims of former Philippine President Duterte’s war on drugs to travel to meet members of the European Parliament as well as diasporic and other publics in Europe and the UK. At the same time, the play Tao Po! – ‘Is Anybody There?’ – a dramatic monologue exploring different perspectives of those involved in Duterte’s drug war including those of victims and perpetrators, was touring Europe. These affectively saturated actions and performances were accompanied by social media posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, among other platforms, using hashtags such as #Stopthekillingsph and #Warondrugsph. I juxtapose two very different interpretations of these actions and performances. On the one hand, I frame them as elements of a political strategy performed to solicit particular affective responses as a means of assembling a transnational public that could bring international political pressure to bear on the Duterte regime. On the other hand, I suggest that these actions were performed to cultivate a sense of belonging to a moral public. I conclude by arguing that the enactment of affects such as grief and loss – affects which are constitutive of the war on drugs – suggests a model of social and political change that works from the bottom-up, with affective experience as the primary catalyst.

‘Party position, electoral incentives, and attention to European Union issues in the 2019 European Parliament election’

Under what conditions do Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) give attention to EU issues in European Parliament (EP) election campaigns? This study examines how party positioning on European integration and individual electoral incentives affected MEPs’ attention to EU issues in the 2019 EP election campaign. Based on data collected from Twitter, the findings show that pro-EU parties and individual vote-seeking incentives increased attention to EU issues. More specifically, they show that MEPs from pro-EU mainstream parties had incentives to debate about EU issues, especially when they competed for votes. The findings help to unfold the interplay between party-level and legislator-level factors and its effects on attention to EU issues and aim to contribute to research on EU issue salience and EP election campaigns.

Åland, the Swedish People's Party, and the European Union: The Beginning of a Complicated Relationship

Abstract This study provides an analysis of the positioning of Ålandic political leadership vis-à-vis the demands of representation in the European Union (EU) and the corresponding reactions of the Swedish People's Party (SFP) during the referendums on EU membership. By analyzing news articles from 1994, this study shows that the SFP had already sought to establish for itself a mediating role between Ålandic expectations and the political realities on the Finnish mainland during the period leading up to membership in the EU. Founded in 1906, the SFP has traditionally branded itself as the flag bearer of Swedish interests in Finland. On face value, one would assume a lot of common political ground between the Ålandic political context and the Finland Swedish efforts to maintain equal status for Swedish as a national language in an overwhelmingly Finnish-speaking country. However, relations between the SFP and Åland have not always been smooth. Most notably, the party refused to support the Åland Movement's attempts to join Sweden between 1917 and 1921 and was firmly positioned with the other Finnish parties in supporting the claims of the Finnish state during the Åland question. While the rupture between Åland and the SFP never truly healed, they have been able to reestablish new forms of cooperation over the years. All members of parliament (MPs) elected from Åland have sat with the SFP MPs in the Swedish Parliamentary Group. Additionally, Members of the European Parliament (MEP) from the SFP that have been elected since 1995 have consistently hired political assistants from Åland and unlike the other Finnish parties, have been committed to the idea that Åland should get an MEP for itself. This study summarizes the historical modes of cooperation between the SFP and Åland, with particular focus on the SFP's positioning regarding Ålandic demands of representation during the EU membership referendum process. This article shows that EU membership has created a new forum for conflict and cooperation between Åland and the SFP through the struggle for representation in the EU organs, namely the European Parliament. This crucial historical period is analyzed through the lens of “sovereignty games,” which allows for an analysis of the paradiplomacy of an autonomous region within a nation state through a national minority party. As a result, this study highlights the need for a differentiated account of the political interdependence of the SFP and Åland and the importance of avoiding interpreting one side's perspective from the standpoint of the other.

Gendering Parliamentary Diplomacy: The case of EU27-UK Relations

Abstract Parliamentary diplomacy (PD) is a contemporary feature of modern parliamentarism but remains, thus far, underexplored from a gender lens. PD incorporates the relationships that parliamentarians or parliaments as institutions have with other parliaments, parliamentarians, and nonstate actors to foster peace, democracy, understanding, dialogue, legitimacy, and scrutiny of governments. Parliaments are spaces of parliamentary and international negotiation and communication, practiced through rules, practices, and symbols. This article draws on a single case study of the European Parliament (EP) and of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) gendered PD, at the time of Brexit—a period when international agreements and relationships were shaped and how gendered PD was culturally legitimized. It is based on a unique qualitative dataset of 140 interviews and ethnographic research (2018–2020) generated at the time of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom’s MEPs from the EP. Based on this analysis, it further considers what a feminist PD might look like.

Religion in the narratives of Polish members of the European Parliament – politicising European integration?

ABSTRACT The contribution investigates the role of religion in the work and attitudes of Polish members of the European Parliament (MEPs). It draws on two types of data: the results of the Polish part of the survey on Religion in the European Parliament and in European multilevel governance II (RelEP2) and qualitative content analysis of Polish MEPs’ speeches from the first part of the European Parliament’s ninth term of office (July 2019–June 2021). The analysis of the MEPs’ plenary speeches reveals the pivotal role religion plays in articulating the main national political divide between sovereignists and Europeanists over attitudes to European integration. Religion, treated primarily as a cultural resource and identity marker, has become instrumental for the process of politicisation of EU integration at the supranational level – mirroring processes on the domestic level – pursued especially by MEPs representing right-wing orientations. The analysis of the survey results demonstrates that Catholicism constitutes an important element of many Polish MEPs’ individual value systems and identities. However, this translates into an ambivalent perception of the role of religion in the context of the public sphere.

The end of the ‘Iberian exception’: religion and the new Spanish far right in the European Parliament

ABSTRACT This contribution analyses the role of religion in the attitudes, beliefs, and discourses of Spanish members of the European Parliament (MEPs). The aim is to show how MEPs relate to religion in their activity, against the background of the transformations experienced by the Spanish political party system in the last decade. One of the most important changes has been the emergence of Vox, a far-right political group, in 2018. The contribution discusses the main results of the Religion in the European Parliament and in European multilevel governance II (RelEP2) survey for the Spanish case and, together with other qualitative data, analyses how religion is an issue on the political agenda of Spanish MEPs, focusing on Vox and how other parties have reacted to the emergence of the far right. The contribution identifies two fields in which religion is mobilised as a symbolic resource for political activity: a) identity politics and EU external action, and b) morality policies and issues related to gender.

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

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.