The Commission takes the lead? ‘Supranational politicisation’ and clashes of narratives on sovereignty in the ‘Future of Europe’ debates

During the recent crises within the European Union (EU), substantial dissonances between EU institutions led to severe conflicts among the governments of the member states and to strong anti-EU narratives, as well as provoking targeted attacks against the 2014-2019 Juncker Commission. By identifying the main features of politicisation discussed in the theoretical section, we aim to acquire a better understanding of how the process of consultation and public speeches on the ‘Fu-ture of Europe’ created new spaces for politicisation, and how the ‘battle of legitimising narratives’ unfolded between member state leaders and the EU. The chapter shows that notwithstanding the Commission's past attempts to facilitate such polarised debates in the European public sphere, Juncker’s initiative with the Future of Europe debate was more successful. The chapter stresses how the Commission tried to integrate various anti-EU narratives put forward by a group of ‘sovereignist’ leaders into a larger, transnational reflection process.