More Unity than Diversity - The European Parliament after the elections. CEPS Commentary, 24 June 2009

In one sense, the European elections of June 2009 delivered an unexpected result. In a situation where there were simultaneous elections in all EU member states, and national campaigns were run by national actors, the message sent out by the peoples of Europe is that they trust the conservative politicians to lead the way out of the crisis, regardless of whether they already hold offices nationally. In this new Commentary, CEPS Researcher Piotr Kaczyński considers the constellation in the new European Parliament and its implications for the balance of power within the political groupings. The author also suggests that on the 7th June we may have witnessed the emergence of a European ‘political public’ – when people in their national contexts, asked by national politicians, give a pan-European answer