Redefining Public Spheres. Methodological Framework and Five Country Cases on the Conflict 'National vs. European' within Institutions and Countries of the European Union

Abstract

2013 has been designated by the European Commission as ‘The Year of the European Citizen’. The background to this nomination is not only the 20th anniversary of the so called Maastricht Treaty, but also the low turn out at the last elections for the European Parliament. The European Commission wants to be closer to and more accepted by the European citizens. However, in reality we are for away from a broad acceptance in this direction. “National vs. European” is still one of the main framings for the public discourse on Europe all over the European countries. National, regional and local issues, subjects and perspectives are still ranked much higher than European ones. The conflict “National vs. European” is very much alive.

This paper gives first a glimpse in the thought history around the conflict “National vs. European”. It then lays out a potential heuristic framework for comparative analysis, developed by the international Corporate Communication Compass. This framework is applied to five example EU countries, showing the differences and similarities in a range of different contexts that affect public communication in all its forms. The conclusion examines how the results of such studies could be used in order to compare communication identities of different countries, and potentially help to overcome the conflict “National vs. European”.

Keywords: national, European, EU, communication

JEL Classification: Z00