Who Talks to Whom? Discursive Networks in the European Parliament

Scholars have always been interested in the transnational dimension of politics in the European Parliament (EP). They have investigated whether members of the EP (MEPs) engage in transnational voting and coalition formation or whether they become transnational representatives over time. Coherence within parliamentary party groups and competition between them may be signs of a nascent transnational party system at European level. What we know surprisingly little about, however, are discursive networks in European Parliament debates. Therefore, this paper asks: Who refers to whom in European Parliament debates and are there systematic differences in who refers to whom?It is because of the relational aspect of these parliamentary debates that we can observe competing coalitions through different actor configurations across time, between and within parliamentary party groups as well as member states. The empirical analysis is based on plenary debates in the European Parliament from 2004 to 2018. Using network analysis, we show that differences in transnational parliamentary debate exist with regard to both who talks about whom and who is talked about by whom. Our findings have important implications for reflections on the formation of transnational public spheres in the EU.