"Problems and Prospects for Party Politics at the European Level: The Case of Socialist Transnational Party Development"

This paper posits the emergence of supranational partisan dynamics within the European Union (EU). The paper begins by suggesting the relationship between EU institutions and member states be considered an emerging multidimensional polity. Its structural characteristics may be discerned within the networks of communication and bargaining among its actors, European and national. A post-Maastricht "legitimacy crisis" is then asserted. This presents an opportunity for the latent European-level party organizations, in particular the Socialists and Christian Democrats, to become independent variables in European integration by way of introducing competitive socio-economic programs via the EU's unique structures. Growing partisan behavior among actors in the European Parliament and Commission, linked to recently enhanced transnational party federations, is documented in regards to the Party of European Socialists. This suggests that a left-right spectrum in EU policymaking is emerging, though manifested within the EU network structure