The Challenges of territorial representation at the supranational level : the case of French MEPs

accessible en ligne : http://www.palgrave-journals.com/fp/journal/v11/n1/full/fp201223a.htmlInternational audienceEven though the territorial dimension of the European representative mandate may be a key element for European Union's legitimization, it remains overlooked in academic literature. This article explores this statement by analysing the EP's French delegation, which includes several interesting features with regard to territorial representation. The article is structured around three research questions: how do French Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) deal with the territorial dimension of their mandate? Why are there some variations regarding focus of representation? To what extent does their focus of representation affect their role orientation? Relying on the results of 37 interviews with French MEPs using both closed and open-ended questions, we demonstrate that the MEPs develop a composite view of representation and display some variations in terms of focus of representation. Those variations are explained mostly through the actor's political orientations and socio-biographic characteristics. We also understand that the focus of representation has some effect on how French MEPs conceive their mandate