Europe in Campaign (Spain Election 2011)

Spain went to the polls on 20 November 2011 with the background of the Eurozone crisis and after two turn-outs, in Greece and Italy, without elections. 11-M was also the first general election in Spain in which social networks such as Twitter were used by candidate´s teams in order to spread mottos and programmatic proposals, as well as to obtain feedback from users of those networks. Using data from party programs, Twitter profiles of two main parties´ leaders [Mariano Rajoy (PP) and Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (PSOE)], interviews granted to the first newspaper in Spain (El Pais), articles on European Policy published in the journal Política Exterior, and the transcript of their only face to face on TV during campaign, the paper analyzes the way in which issues concerning European integration were present at the Spain election 2011. Empiric evidence shows that EU topics were almost absent in 11-M programs and campaign messages, although when they appeared there were not as opportunistic or demagogic as it could be expected.