Public and Media Contestation through the Euro-zone Crisis: Whither Integration?
Hans-Joerg Trenz, University of Copenhagen
(Joint paper with Paul Statham)
In this contribution, we examine the factors that are conducive to EU politicization in times of crisis and aim to contribute to theory and understanding of how this process is underway. To study the public dimension of the EU’s politicization, we take the hitherto most prominent case, which is also recognised as a catalyst and a critical event, in determining the overall degree and form of EU politicization: the public debates over the Constitutional Treaty and confront it with the more recent case of the Euro-debt crisis. The aim is that by examining the emergence of European politicization at its genesis, we can reach a better understanding of the conditions which brought it about, and the mechanisms which can drive it forward. Our study draws on detailed empirical findings on the transformation of public and media debates in France, Germany and Britain. This allows us to test propositions in the theoretical literature on the politicization of Europe and the role of the media as an amplifier of crisis