Politicisation of EU Integration – The Right-Wing Challenge for Mainstream Parties’ 2014 EP Campaign Communication

We investigate whether and how right-wing parties use their campaign communication in the up-run to the 2014 EP campaign to mobilize against Europe regarding cultural or economic matters. We assume that right-wing mobilization forces mainstream, especially conservative parties to react in order to avoid losing votes. These mainstream parties have three possibilities to react: silencing of EU integration issues, forcefully putting forward their own (mainly) pro-EU positions or adopting EU-critical stances. We study right-wing parties’ campaign communication and the reaction of mainstream parties in Austria and Germany based on a quantitative content analysis of their press releases in a period of three months preceeding the EP elections. We thereby expect German conservatives to react with silencing strategies, whereas the conservatives in Austria to voice their own (pro-EU) positions - depending on the relative strength of right-wing parties in both countries.