The Politics of the European Neighbourhood Policy by Agnieszka K Cianciara

Author:Agnieszka K Cianciara [Cianciara, Agnieszka K]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: European, Political Science, World
ISBN: 9781000069778
Google: Eu_eDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 50670819
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-04-28T00:00:00+00:00

Parliamentary narratives of contestation

The EP is the only European institution that enables unconstrained public articulation of narratives that contest the EU neighbourhood and foreign policies. Plenary debates facilitate production of narratives that contest not only policies pursued and positions adopted by the Commission, EEAS and the Council, but also the dominant policy narrative produced in the EP and the very essence of the European integration project. Eurosceptic counter-narratives were produced both from the radical left (GUE/NGL) and radical right (EFD) positions. The analysis of narratives produced by the two political groups in relation to the Russian-Ukrainian war and the 2015 ENP review was based on two types of sources: (1) written motions for resolutions tabled by the groups and (2) MEPs’ articulations during plenary debates.

In the middle of the eighth term GUE/NGL was the fifth (52 MEPs) and EFD the seventh (42 MEPs) biggest political group, together accounting for 12.5 per cent of the EP seats. In comparison with the previous parliamentary term their size increased by roughly 30 per cent. Thus in line with EP internal regulations, the Eurosceptic MEPs had comparatively more speaking time during plenary debates and thus more opportunities to articulate counter-narratives of the ENP and the European integration. However, these groups were not able to exert a tangible impact on the EP work, that is, on the content of reports and resolutions. Not a single report on the ENP was prepared by a Eurosceptic MEP. The radical left sought to influence the content of resolutions by tabling amendments during plenary, but they were all rejected, without exception. In contrast, the radical right did not table amendments or, in many cases, motions for resolution and restrained its activities to voicing contestation during plenary debates. Importantly, EFD contestation expanded after the 2014 European elections, when two national parties, the British UKIP and the Italian Five Star Movement, started to dominate the group.

As their chances for success in the intra-parliamentary political game remained limited at best, Eurosceptic groups focussed on articulating narratives that aimed at strengthening their electoral base in the EU member states rather than at strengthening their position towards other players in the EP. As a result, instead of engaging with the ENP storyline, Eurosceptic narratives focussed on a more fundamental contestation of the EU and its external action. Narratives of the radical left and radical right had three elements in common: first, the EU was narrated as a villain that pursued American and not European interests in the region while directly threatening peace and prosperity in Europe and beyond; second, the EU was contested for using double standards in its foreign policy – talking values but acting geopolitics while criticizing others (Russia) for doing exactly the same; and third, the EU was accused of pursuing imperial policies in Eastern Europe and neo-colonial policies in the Mediterranean. In practice, narrating contestation of the EU’s role in the neighbourhood served a more fundamental objective, namely de-legitimating the normative foundations of the EU foreign policy and the entire European project.

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