Assessing the 2019 European Parliament Elections

Sylvia Kritzinger is Professor of Social Science Research Methods in the Department of Government at the University of Vienna, Austria.Carolina Plescia is Assistant Professor and Hertha Firnberg scholar in the Department of Government at the University of Vienna, Austria.Kolja Raube is Assistant Professor for European Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences at KU Leuven, and Research Manager at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, Belgium.James Wilhelm is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Vienna Center for Electoral Research at the University of Vienna, Austria.Jan Wouters is Full Professor of International Law and International Organizations, Jean Monnet Chair ad personam European Union and Global Governance, and Director of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies at KU Leuven, Belgium.

• Introduction: Assessing the 2019 European Parliament Elections Part I: The Politico-Legal Framework of the 2019 European Elections 1. The Long and Winding Road towards a European Electoral Law 2. From Dawn to Doom: The institutionalization of the Spitzenkandidaten-process during European elections and its final negation 3. The Fall of the Spitzenkandidaten: Political parties and conflict in the 2019 European elections 4. Party-groups and Ideological Cleavages in the European Parliament after the 2019 Elections Part II: Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour at the 2019 European Parliament Elections 5. European Parliament Elections as Second Order National Elections 6. First-Order Breakthrough or Still Second Order? An assessment of the 2019 EP elections Part III: The 2019 European Parliament Elections in Eight Countries 7. The 2019 EP Election in Austria: A highly salient domestic test election 8. The 2019 EP Election in Denmark: A European election within a national contest 9. Second-Order or Second Hand? The 2019 EP election in France 10. Between Migration and the Climate Crisis: The 2019 EP election in Germany 11. Orbán’s Long Shadow: The 2019 European Parliament election in Hungary 12. 2019 European Election in Italy: Second-order but still salient elections? 13. The 2019 EP Election in Poland: In the shadow of extreme polarization 14. The 2019 EP Election in Spain: Settling a national score? From Second-Order towards First-Order Elections: Some Concluding Observations

"This timely volume examines the 2019 elections to the European Parliament. Bringing together leading scholars of European politics and electoral behaviour, it assesses how reforms to the EU’s legal rules have influenced these elections and the democratic legitimacy of the Union. It also provides a careful analysis of the election campaigns and voting behaviour in eight EU countries. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in European Parliament elections and the ongoing debate on democracy in the EU."Sara Hobolt, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK."This excellent book gives a very complete account of the 2019 European Parliament (EP) elections in a unique format that provides both breadth and depth. Its early chapters survey the general features of those elections, providing contextual background needed to understand the results. These chapters are followed by eight more, each of which provies an in-depth look at how the elections played out in especially interesting countries, for which the general patterns introduced earlier are spelled out. The volume has some unique features. The first is a focus in the changing electoral framework under which EP elections are conducted, along with an assessment of the consequences of those changes. Another is the use of pre-election surveys, in addition to the more usual post-election surveys, with the same respondents being interviewed at two points in time. This allows assessments of campaign effects on voters. These unique features of the book provide new insights into the functioning of EP elections as the EU's electoral processes mature."Mark Franklin, Trinity College, USA."Assessing the 2019 European Parliament Elections offers a definitive analysis of the landmark 2019 elections. For years, reformers sought to strengthen the EU's democratic legitimacy with institutional innovations designed to enhance citizen engagement and the accountability of EU leaders to voters. How did citizens respond in 2019? Did the reforms actually enhance the legitimacy of the EU? With cross-cutting analyses of the impact of institutional developments such as the rise and fall of the Spitzenkandidaten process and of public opinion, along with detailed assessments of the election in eight diverse member states, the editors and contributors to this interdisciplinary volume offer a comprehensive and deeply insightful account. Assessing the 2019 European Parliament Elections is a must read for anyone interested in the development of the EU as a democratic polity." R. Daniel Kelemen, Rutgers University, USA.