PROGRAMME ON EUROPEAN
POLICY-MAKING Department of Political Science
University of Helsinki

Research background and problem setting

The citizens of the European Union have to a large extent become estranged from European Union politics which can be seen in the continuous fall in turnout in the European elections. According to the Eurobarometer polls people have not developed a European identity to the extent that had been anticipated. Feelings of national identity seem quite intact and durable instead. Neither have people developed an affective sentiment toward the European Union: in 1995 some fifty percent of the European Union citizens felt indifferent to European Union dissolution. In addition to peoples feelings of indifference and alienation from the European Union, the elite and mass perceptions of the European Union seem to be poles apart. This discrepancy became acutely apparent in the Maastricht treaty ratification process in member states where a referendum was a prerequisite for endorsement.

The problematic nature of the relationship between the European Union and its citizens creates three kinds of problem for the stability and effective functioning of the European Union and its institutions. These questions make up the theme for research component one. First there is some question about the extent to which citizens are capable of identifying with the political choices presented to them in the European political arena, and secondly whether the citizens attach importance to European Union politics and feel competent and able to influence decisions made at the European level. Thirdly, acceptance of European Union policies and institutions - the legitimacy of the Union - presumes that the citizens consider the principles and the rules of procedure of the European Union as just and rightful and as conforming to their values and beliefs. That citizen alienation and indifference has reached a point at which the effective functioning and credibility of the European Union are endangered has recently been discussed.

Data

The Eurobarometer surveys, conducted twice a year in every member state and financed by the European Commission, will be the primary individual level research data for component one. A framework enabling systematic observation and cross-national comparison of public opinion will be developed to utilise this data.

The research on voting behaviour will focus on election years. Special emphasis will be attached to the European elections in 1999. Information about the European elections will be combined with an extensive municipal data file gathered at the department of political science over a long period of a time. The aim is to create a foundation for systematic analysis of the results of the European elections which can be seen as serving the interests of the media as well.

Elections to the European Parliament in 1999

The year 1999 will be an important one in the political life of the Union member states, particularly in Finland. The legitimacy of the EMU decisions will be assessed in the European elections in 1999 in every member state, including Finland, where the European Union presidency adds to the momentousness of the time.

European elections are a particularly significant event in another sense as well. Because of the democratic deficit - the distance between the citizens and the European Union - the European elections have an important position in the European Union legitimation process. When elections act as a medium of political representation they confer legitimacy on the elected institution even if it is not politically very influential. In addition, in the case of the European Union where legitimacy is dual, arising from the legitimacy of popularly elected governments, the elections for the European Parliament represent a more direct form of legitimation.

The 1999 European and national elections will also be important with regard to feelings of national and European identity. The more significant issues of identity become in the political agenda, the more the political parties and movements direct their attention to these questions. They need to take a stand as to whether they are for or against the European Union and thus risk possibly losing a considerable number of their divergent adherents. This situation creates room for the growth of new anti-European Union movements and thus increases the stakes in the elections by politicising the European elections in a previously unexpected way, giving rise to a new opposition to the established national political forces.

The question of whether the agenda of the European elections will be composed of independent issues from the national elections or whether the national considerations will override any attempt to discuss European issues will also be of special interest. The situation in Finland is still taking shape and thus quite open. The year 1999 will become a watershed in a sense that the "first-order national elections" and the "second-order European elections" will be held in the same year. It will be interesting to see whether the political alignment in the first-order arena will affect the second-order European elections or whether two separate and autonomous elections will be held.

Organising the research component "Citizens and the European Union"

The research component "Citizens and the European Union" will focus on three inter-related themes: first, European and national elections; second, the formulation of the political agenda of the elections, and third, public trust in European Union institutions and politics. The project aims to publish a larger monograph on this topic by the year 2000. However, the project will publish a study on the first EP elections, held in 1996, which will cover major pre-election events and issues, the election manifestos of the parties, fluctuations in public opinion, and analysis of the results of the election in terms of regional support for the political parties and the candidates.

The project will also examine the behaviour of the European Parliament, its decision-making practices, the formulation of the agenda of European issues, the organisation of political forces into coalitions and political fronts and, finally, the input of the Finnish Members of the European Parliament in formulating and realising Finnish EU policy. The primary object will then be comparative analysis of the elections for the European Parliament both in Finland and in various member states.