Policy Framing in the EU: A Cross-National Comparison of Multilevel Dynamics

What frames emerge in the EU policy issues? What processes shape those frames and lead to the dominance or the change of frame? Are there EU ‘master-frames’? How are frames at the national level and at the supranational level connected? Do the politics of framing vary across EU Member States? Research on framing in the EU political system is still a rather unexplored field. Scholars have devoted considerable attention to the definition of frames and to their detailed study in specific policy areas. However, little is still known about the importance of frames in different policy areas and about how the multilevel context of the EU impacts on these frames. This article widens the empirical scope of framing studies by comparing the frames that emerged in 20 EU directives at the EU and national levels (Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden). The goal of the article is twofold: first, to present new data on framing activities at both the EU and the national levels, and second, to outline a research methodology for the study of frames in the EU multi-level system. On the one hand, the frames of the actors involved in the 20 proposals were derived from expert interviews with Commission officials, EU and national level interest groups as well as national officials. On the other, we draw on a qualitative, computer assisted content analysis of position and consultation papers. Moreover, we use context-specific information as well as actor and issue-specific information to account for the framing patterns that emerged in these policy processes. Preliminary findings show several national frames are sub-categories of the EU level frames, and that the frames vary across levels and countries.