Political campaign, government approval and European Parliament elections

Whether European Parliament (EP) elections are seen by citizens as second order elections or truly European ones is a matter of scholarly debate. Taking the results of the 2009 EP elections as a starting point, this article conducts a comparative analysis of the various interpretative models which have been applied to voting behavior at EP elections.
We focus, firstly, on those models which stress the centrality of domestic political concerns («Second Order» model) and the national electoral cycle («Midterm» model). Secondly, we consider those interpretations which highlight the roles played by the electoral campaign, specifically European issues and the attitudes of voters towards the European
Union (the «Europe Matters» model). Finally, we discuss a multivariate composite model which comprises the most salient factors of the previous models, in order to provide a more comprehensive account of individual voting behavior in EP elections. The results from this suggest that Europe-related factors play a more significant role than might be assumed from the scholarly literature on the topic.

Televised Advertising in the 2009 European parliamentary elections: campaign strategies in and across Europe

Party political advertising is an important element in election campaigns in
general. However, European Parliament (EP) elections are a special case: Their second-order nature as regards public interest and participation, coupled with limited news coverage creates a low-information electoral environment which may, however, enhance the potential impact of advertisements. EP elections also have a second-order status in terms of the number of comparative studies on elections campaigns and their effects. The small number of analyses available have shown that exposure to television advertisements in
EP elections does exert measurable effects on voters. This study analyzes the content of TV advertising used in a sample of six EU member states during the 2009 EP election campaigns.

The European election campaign on political parties posters

This article presents the results of an analysis of 315 election posters produced in the 27 member states by 110 parties which gained at least two seats in the 2009 European Parliament (EP) elections. These materials are part of a larger archive comprising 414 posters by 144 political parties (accessible online at http://www.compol.it/europa-manifesti).
The main aim of the study which focused on both visual and textual aspects was to assess the similarities/differences in linguistic codes and iconographicsymbolical repertoires across European posters. Notwithstanding the growing role of new forms of political communication and new media the study highlights a widespread and significant use of traditional political propaganda, such as posters. In terms of substantive results, the poster analysis pointed to similar trends both visually and textually: marked personalization, reduced relevance of ideological appeals and an increase in styles and rhetorical models clearly borrowed from advertisements. Moreover, cross-national analysis revealed different usese of posters between new and old member states, particularly as regards appeals to the idea of Europe and the nation while, according to cross-party analysis, «marginal» parties (especially anti-European parties and those of the populist right) display aggressive and unconventional communication, based upon a specific political symbology.

«At centre stage». How the election and press campaign revolved around the public and private «mishaps» of Silvio Berlusconi

Media visibility of the 2009 European Parliament election campaign was low
in Italy due to a series of exceptional events. While these included the Abruzzo earthquake,
the Fiat/Chrysler trade-agreement, the G20 London Summit on the global financial crisis,
by far the most significant «event» was the persistent controversy surrounding the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. This ranged from the so-called «veline» scandal to «Noemigate»: the public announcement of the prime minister’s divorce proceedings, the «veline» supposed scandal, Noemigate and consequent divorce announced by Veronica Lario by press, parties with underage showgirls in Villa Certosa, private use of state flights and, last but not least, the guilty sentence in the David Mills trial in Milan. This article analyses media coverage of «the Berlusconi issue» in 19 main daily newspapers and has two principal aims: firstly to study the evolution of an issue which sat Berlusconi-the-man at the centre of an election campaign more than perhaps ever before; secondly, and more generally, to assess the degree to which Italian politics is moving towards Ginsberg and Shafter’s model of politics conducted «by other means» (2002).

Use your vote. The European information campaign on 2009 EU Elections

On 17 March 2009, DG Comm, the agency responsible for coordinating the communication policy of the European Union, presented its communication strategy for the European Parliament elections: the Use your vote campaign. For the first time, this saw a common message broadcasted to 375 million people inviting them to vote for Europe. This strategy began a year and a half ahead of the election date and was a strong action in support of European integration. It involved a large investment of resources: 18 million euro were spent on the campaign. While this might seem an enormous sum, it was of course modest when compared with the number of European citizens (in other words, it represented an expenditure of 5 cent for each potential voter). The campaign was also a significant commitment in organizational terms : It targeted all 27 member states equally and all materials were translated into 23 community languages. This article describes the EU’s communication strategy and offers some reflections.

More local than national. Communication of parties for the 2009 European elections in Italy

This article analyzes the contents of party communications – election manifestos, posters and political advertisements -, in the light of the main scholarly work on the European elections. It firstly assesses the validity of the «second-order election» thesis in terms of the quantity of communications by examining the prevalence of the national dimension over the European. Secondly, the article discusses the degree to which communicationsby local candidates are different and how these interact with national party communications. The findings show that national party communications tend to support the second-order election model, while communications by local candidates appear to place greater emphasis on the European dimension and its practical consequences for citizens.

Coverage strategies of main Italian newspapers in the 2009 European election campaign

Through the analysis of the coverage that the Italian national press has given to the electoral campaign for the last European elections, the contribution intends to gather more specific clues about the media’s role in the construction of a public discourse on Europe. The theme has been repeatedly debated, but, as shown by the data of the Political Communication Monitor of Turin, many problems still remain open. The Italian journalism, in fact, seems to show the first signs of a rather favorable attitude to a process of Europeanization of the national public opinions, but according to paradigms and strategies still difficult to standardize.

The European elections on the web: campaigning 2.0?

The article discusses the findings of a study on the use of web 2.0 during the 2009 European Parliament election campaign. The research was divided into two main phases: (1) an analysis of candidates’ websites and use of web 2.0 tools; (2) monitoring of the campaign on Facebook. Although there is a continuing digital divide as regards the presence of candidates online, most politicians have integrated web 2.0 tools into their personal websites. There thus appears to be a strategic appropriation and adaptation of web 2.0, resulting in an hybrid communication model, in between 1.0 and 2.0. By contrast, the campaigning activity on social media seems innovative insofar as it allows for a re-localization of previously centralized and nationally coordinated campaigns.

Elected to do what? European Parliament representation in the eyes of the Corriere della Sera

This article examines how the main Italian newspaper, the Corriere della Sera, treated the question of the European Parliament (EP) and Italian EP members in the three months preceding the 2009 EP elections. Beginning with an analysis of comment pieces and editorials on these topics, this article discusses the main rhetorical frames used to treat the European elections. Three main categories are used for our analysis: (1) the views expressed on the usefulness and effectiveness of the EP; (2) the representations presented by the newspaper of Italian EP members; (3) the judgements on the election campaign choices of the two main political parties, particularly as regards candidate selection. On the basis of the evidence presented, the article notes that the Corriere della Sera often tended to present the EP elections in what we might term an «antipolitical» frame and offered a vision of representation at EU level which merits further investigation.

2009 European election: Italy within Europe

As many times occurred even in the recent past, the European elections of the last year (2009) gave us results which underline the peculiar attitudes and voting behaviours of citizens in the whole Europe: They are in fact generally not particularly interested in the building of an efficient government of the EU. Hence a low level of participation (almost 60% of abstentions) or, in case of participation, a frequent choice for the parties which are determined to boycott the European political union (the so-called «euro-sceptical»).
From the traditional bipolarism that involved popular (PPE) and socialist (PSE) parties, we are perhaps now going to a new one, between PPE and sceptical, which is not very useful nor positive for the future of EU.