To what extent do Austrian parties politicise European Union issues during national election campaigns? This paper examines the salience of European issues in the general election campaigns in 2008 and 2013. Using manifesto and press release data from the Austrian National Election Study (AUTNES) I investigate in detail how much parties talk about the European Union and, how they do so. I argue that one can identify varying strategies between government and opposition parties in terms of overall salience of EU issues, the way a party emphasises economic and non-economic aspects of the European Union and at what point in the campaign a party addresses EU issues. In sum, this paper aims at providing us with information on the extent of party-political contestation over European Integration and shows how the EU is incorporated into everyday national politics.
