The 2014 European Parliamentary Elections: Emerging signs of a shift from ‘solidarity’ to ‘politicization’ at the EU-level

Abstract

Party political forces in the form of the European Political Groups (EPGs) and the Europarties populate the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary landscape at the EU-level. In so doing, they remind us that the European Parliament (EP) is both a legislative and representative body that needs to be renewed every five years. In its legislative guise, where no one political group commands a majority, some form of cross-party solidarity between the political mainstream has always been essential. At the representative level, however, the resonance of this set-up is coming under greater scrutiny. First, because of the intensifying electoral struggle between the political mainstream and the various shades of Euroscepticism which revel in their status as political outsiders. Second, because of the growing belief that such cross-party solidarity is undermining the potential of mainstream party politics at the EU-level to develop linkages with European voters. In a partial response to this dilemma, the mainstream engineered the inauguration of the Spitzenkandidaten (i.e. the ‘indirect’ election of the President of the European Commission) as part of the 2014 European elections. As the guardians of this process, the Europarties would be responsible for selecting a ‘leading candidate’ ― a Spitzenkandidat. She/he would go on to become the ‘face’ of their corresponding election campaign. This, they hoped, would translate into the propagation of a more ideologically charged atmosphere that would help to revitalize democratic participation and raise turnout as voters were presented with the means to differentiate more effectively between the competing mainstream forces.

Despite its limitations, the Spitzenkandidaten innovation signifies an important milestone in the direction of politicizing the European elections and the wider European project that could help to elevate the representative standing of the EP. Whether or not this is the start of a reform trajectory, that takes the process of politicization even further by creating a context conducive to the strengthening of the ideational and organizational nature of party politics at the EU-level, remains to be seen. Without such a course of action though, it would appear that the mainstream runs the risk of giving Eurosceptics a free hand in challenging the basis of the European project.