Complex Language and Attitudes Towards the European Union: Communicating European Commission Infringement Proceedings

Faced with a growing public backlash, Global Governance Institutions (GGIs) are more frequently engaging in discursive self-legitimation. The European Union is not only one of the GGIs with the most influence on national politics, but it is also one of the most publicly criticized. As a result, the European Commission has reinforced efforts to communicate its work. However, one crucial barrier to these attempts is the inherent difficulty of communicating the often highly technical decisions of the European Commission. As a result, communication attempts of the European Commission are exceedingly complex. What are the effects of this complex messaging on attitudes towards decisions of the European Commission? Possibly, such self-legitimation attempts may weaken instead of strengthening public EU support, as complex messaging may increase aversion towards the EU and reinforce perceptions of the technocratic nature of the institution. Past research has focused on the content of self-legitimation by GGIs. But this content must be understood by the public to have a legitimating effect beyond a small group of politically sophisticated individuals. Implementing a preregistered survey experiment in Germany (N = 1200), I investigate the effects of complex messaging on attitudes towards two infringement procedures against Germany instigated by the European Commission related to two directives: The Habitats Directive and the Electricity and Gas Directive. I show that more accessible language markedly improves support for the infringement procedures. This effect is especially strong for supporters of the EU and individuals with comparatively high or low education. An exploratory analysis of the impact of this treatment on emotional self-reports shows that less complex language does not lead to a backlash from EU opponents. This study's results could help understand the conditions under which the self-legitimation strategies of EU institutional actors are likely to be effective.