Transnational intra-party dynamics on European democracy during EU Elections: the case of the Europarties

The lack of genuine supranational political competition is one of the causes of the democratic deficit in the European Union (EU). Some processes were intended to mitigate these effects, such as the introduction of the Spitzenkandidaten (SK) and the possibility of creating Transnational Lists (TL) for elections to the European Parliament (EP). These processes would be accompanied by a strengthening of the role of the European political parties (henceforth, Europarties) as the only transnational federations capable of mobilising their national members in decisions beyond the EP. Europarties would thus be able to promote transnational candidates to the European institutions. However, Europarties are heterogeneous organisations of national parties, whose members and their individual positions can influence their internal structure. The internal organisational and ideological dynamics of these transnational parties are subject to the creation of factions with possibly ambivalent positions on European democracy during EU elections. Therefore, the aim of this research is to analyse what effects the following dynamics have had on the creation of a common position on the SK and TL: rank of the Europarty leader, rules of procedure, legislative resources, contact between members, and ideology (left-right and pro-European- Eurosceptic). The focus on Europarties is justified for two main reasons: they facilitate the exchange of information from national parties to the supranational level, and they have become increasingly important due to the Spitzenkandidaten and Transnational Lists.