Europe at the Polls: The European Elections of 1999

333 Pages·2002·30.112 MB·English

by  Pascal Perrineau, Gérard Grunberg, Colette Ysmal (eds.)

Europe at the Polls
EUROPE IN TRANSITION: THE NYU EUROPEAN
STUDIES SERIES
The Marshall Plan: Fifty Years After
Edited by Martin Schain
Europe at the Polls: The European Elections of1 999
Edited by Pascal Perrineau, Gerard Grunberg, and Colette Ysmal
Europe at the Polls:
The European Elections
of 1999
Edited by
Pascal Perrineau, Gerard Grunberg, and Colette Ysmal
palgrave
* EUROPE AT THE POLLS
© Pascal Perrineau, Gerard Grunberg, and Colette Ysmal, 2002
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-312-2389S-7
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published 2002 by
PALGRAVE
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Companies and representatives throughout the world
PALGRAVE is the new global publishing imprint of St. Martin's Press LLC
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ISBN 978-1-349-63226-8 ISBN 978-1-137-04441-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-04441-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vote des Quinze. English.
Europe at the polls: the European elections of 1999 I edited by
Pascal Perrineau,
Gerard Grunberg, and Colette Ysmal.
p.cm. (Europe in transition, the NYU European studies series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. European Parliament-Elections, 1999.2. European Union countries
Politics and government-1989. I. Perrineau, Pascal. II. Grunberg, Gerard. Ill.
Ysmal, Colette. IV. Title.
JN36. V67513 2001
324.94'0559-dc21 2001053263
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd, Chennai, India.
First edition: january, 2002
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List ofF igures and Tables Vll
Contributors
X
Foreword xu
Martin A. Schain
Introduction
Xl11
Gerard Grunberg, Pascal Perrineau, Colette Ysmal
Part One
Europe, Citizens, and Political Elites
The 1999 European Parliament Elections and
the Political Culture of European Integration 3
B. Cautres, R. Sinnott
2 Dynamic Representation: The Case of European
Integration 22
H Schmitt, J Thomassen
3 Identity and Electoral Participation: For a
European Approach to European Elections 43
A.-P. Frognier
4 The Faltering Europeanization of National Campaigns 59
J Gerstlt, H A. Semetko, K Schoenbach, M Villa
Part Two
A Europe of Political Forces
5 The Communist and Extreme Left Galaxy 81
M. Lazar
6 The Disillusionment of European Socialists 93
G. Grunberg, G. Moschonas
vi • Contents
7 The Greens in the 1999 European Elections:
The Success Story 116
F. Miiller-Rommel
8 Ethnoregionalist Parties and European
Integration at the 1999 European Elections 130
L. De Winter
9 The European People's Party and the Restructuring
of Right-Wing Parties in Europe 146
D. Hanley, C. Ysmal
10 The Extreme Right in the June 1999
European Elections 161
P Ignazi, P Perrineau
Part Three
A Europe ofVoters and Institutions
11 Electoral Geography of Europe 181
C. Vandermotten, P Medina Lockhart
12 Electoral Participation and the European Poll:
A Limited Legitimacy 207
P De/wit
13 The New European Parliament 223
C. Lord
Appendices (Electoral results by country, groups within
the European Parliament, maps) 239
Index 317
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
1.1 Attitudes to the European Union on four Eurobarometer
indicators (unification, membership, benefits and
dissolution), 1973-1998 5
1.2 Correspondence Analysis of European Attitudes
(Membership and Benefit Indicators; Countries as
Supplementary Points. Eurobarometer 51.0,
April-May 1999, 16177 Respondents) 8
1.3 Perceptions of the Reliability of the European Commission and
the European Parliament in Ensuring the Responsiveness of
European Decision Making, 1994 and 1999 17
1.4 Perceptions of the Power of the European Parliament,
1994 and 1999 18
1.5 Party Differentials at European Parliament Elections,
1994 and 1999 19
2.1 The basic Research Design 25
2.2 Attitudes toward European Unification: Voter-elite
congruence, 1979 27
2.3 Attitudes toward European Unification: Voter-elite
congruence, 1994 28
2.4 Left-right Orientations: Voter-elite congruence, 1979 29
2.5 Left-right Orientations: Voter-elite congruence, 1994 30
2.6 Movements in time and space: EP Groups, 1979-1994 33
2.7 Changes of Political Orientations ofVoters and Elites of
Major British Parties, 1979-1994 35
2.8 Representation from Below: A Simple Causal Model
Linking Elites' and Voters' Views on European
Integration in 1994 and 1979 37
3.1 Euronational Identity and Participation in the European
Elections of 1999, by Country 48
3.2 Euronational Identity according to the Degree of Satisfaction with
Regard to Democracy in One's Own Country, by Country 53
Tables
1.1 Preferred level of decision making by policy domain 10
1.2 Support for Membership in the European Union
("a good thing") 13
viii • List of Figures and Tables
1.3 Perceived benefit of Membership in the European Union
("benefited") 14
1.4 Support for Membership in the European Union
("a good thing") 15
2.1 Voters are insecure regarding EU policies rather than
opposed to European integration 28
2.2 Euroskepticism of the left is melting away (Correlations
between European integration and left-right
orientations at different levels and times) 31
2.3 Determinants of voters' and elites' views in 1994
(correlation and determination coefficients) 35
3.1 Measurements of identity, 1992-1998 (in o/o) 46
3.2 Correlations among variables of idenrity, 1992-1998 47
3.3 The position of the states on the scale of satisfaction with
regard to democracy in one's own country, 1999 (EB 51) 52
4.1 National opinion regarding the EU (1994-1999) 60
4.2 Campaign perceptions 75
5.1 Results of the Communist Parties or former
Communist Parties in the European elections 82
5.2 Evolution of scores of Communist Parties or former
Communist Parties, 1994-1999 83
5.3 Results of the Swedish VP since 1994 84
5.4 Extreme-left vote in 1999 (percentage of total vote) 90
6.1 The Evolution of Socialist scores in the
European elections of 1994 and 1999 98
6.2 Evolution of the Socialist vote since the next-to-last
legislative elections (percentage of ballots cast) 99
6.3 Difference in the Socialist vote and the non-Socialist left
and environmentalist vote between the 1999 European
elections and the preceding legislative elections 101
6.4 Difference in the Socialist vote and the non-Socialist left
and environmentalist vote between the 1999 European
elections and the preceding European elections 102
6.5 The evolution of voting in Italy since 1994 104
6.6 Socialist seats in the European Parliament 111
6.7 Percentage of Socialist seats from each country in the PES 112
7.1 Elecroral results of Green Parties, 1979-1999 (European
elections, in percent and seats) 121
7.2 Sociodemographic profile of Green federation
representatives in the European Parliament, 1999 122
7.3 Explanatory variables for Green Party success 127
8.1 The Democratic Party of the Peoples of Europe-European
Free Alliance as a representative of a European political
family, Ocrober 1999 133
9.1 National parties' dates of joining EPP 148
9.2 EPP results in 1994 and 1999 154
10.1 The evolution of the extreme right in the European
Parliament, 1979-1999 162
List of Figures and Tables • ix
10.2 The evolution of the extreme right in the European
eleccions, 1994-1999 164
10.3 Perception of the economic situation and the workings
of democracy in European Union countries, 1994-1999 177
11.1 The new lineup in the European Parliament after the
1999 elections 183
11.2 Results of the 1999 European elections by political
family (in percentage of the valid votes) 184
11.3 Centrist, classical liberal, and conservative/agrarian parties
in the Strasbourg Parliament 193
11.4 Relative level of left voting and its components in the
metropolitan areas relative to a national or regional area
of reference (area of reference = 100) 200
12.1 Turnout at five European polls 208
12.2 Number of states in conformity with the participation
slices at the European level 209
12.3 Abstention rate on the basis of the existence or
nonexistence of compulsory voting 209
12.4 Difference between the latest turnout at the national
level and the turnout at the European polls
of]uly 13, 1999 210
12.5 Turnout calculated on the basis of the valid votes 211
12.6 The tendency toward decline in the electoral turnout
in Europe 213
12.7 Electoral abstention and social attributes 219
13.1 The party systems of the 1994-1999 and 1999-2004
European Parliaments 228
13.2 Committee chairs for the first half of the new
European Parliament, by party group and national
party delegation 232
Appendices
Al.l-Al.l5 Results of the European elections in the 15 countries
of the European Union (June 1999) 239
A2.1-A2.15 Evolution in the results of the European elections
in the 15 countries of the European Union,
1979-1999 251
A3 Deputies in the European Parliament, October 1999
(breakdown by member stare and political group) 284
Chart AI History of Political Groups in the European
Parliament, 1979-1999 286
A4.1-A4.6 Evolution of rhe political groupings in the
European Parliament, 1979-1999 287
Maps 1-19 Political families in the 15 countries of the
European Union (electoral results, June 1999) 298