Credit Claiming in the European Union: Evidence from Council Summits

Incumbents in multilevel systems are assumed to exploit uncertainty of responsibility by claiming credit and shifting blame, yet little is known about when and how they engage in these rhetorical strategies. This article draws on the example of the European Union (EU) to present a model showing how variations in domestic electoral returns determine governments’ presentation of the EU in their domestic public spheres. I use an original dataset of over 6,000 classified statements in speeches by heads of government presenting the outcomes of EU Summits to their national media and parliaments between 2005 and 2018, and find that governments both claim credit for themselves and share credit with the EU. Governments are more likely to claim credit when their reelection constituency is polarized over European integration, and for issues that are salient to domestic audiences. Findings challenge the conventional view that the EU receives little recognition from politicians in domestic public spheres, and that governments frequently shift blame onto the EU. Rather, the EU is credited for policy issues citizens care little about, whereas governments claim credit for issues that are electorally salient. Findings have implications for the impact of politicians’ strategic communication on citizens’ attributions of responsibility in multilevel systems.