EP elections 2019: Politics, Politicisation and Polarisation

The article discusses four novel dynamics that occurred regarding the 2019 EP elections: 1) There is an increasing politicisation of EU topics: Climate change has been one decisively politicised topic – but also Migration and sovereignty. This means there was a politicisation that stresses the EU´s role as an international actor, and an EU critical politicisation. 2) This supports to the idea that an opposition of Communitarism versus cosmopolitanism is becoming a driving force and cleavage in EU politics, especially as the polarisation between communitarists and cosmopolitans has arrived in the EP. 3) EP elections are not second order elections anymore. There was a major increase in electoral turnout, and the mobilising themes in these elections show a clear orientation towards the EU as a polity. 4) There is an increasing polarisation Pro and Anti EU, which is driven by a pro-EU establishment on the one hand and anti-EU challengers on the other.