Suchergebnisse

This chapter deals with persuasion processes in modern elections. It focuses on the impact of so-called Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) that are becoming ever more popular among citizens in the Western world and beyond. By matching the political preferences of voters with the supply side (i.e., parties and candidates) in the campaign, these tools affect voters in several ways. Among others, they have a positive impact on turnout, as both observational and experimental studies could show. Furthermore, they trigger a process of self-persuasion, in which users reflect on the VAA-generated output in terms of partisan preferences, cognize these results, and change/reinforce their priors.

This report reviews three quite different ways in which people acquire and make use of European political through the Commission, the Permanent Representatives Office and the European Parliament. Because it was commissioned by a Lisbon non-governmental institute, the Fundação Franciso Manuel dos Santos, the focus is on the experience of Portuguese. In the context of the 28 EU member states, Portugal is both medium size in population and among the older members of the European Union. Moreover, it is typical of the situation of citizens of the great majority of small and medium size EU member states: in order to fit into European institutions Portuguese must concentrate on what is of common interest and concern in many European countries.

The great majority of EU member states are not big states, and they are further divided into not so small, smaller and smallest states. The European Union's establishment by a treaty between 27 independent states confers juridical equality on each state regardless of its population. Insofar as population matters, the handful of big states have more votes in EU institutions–but the EU norm is that decisions should be taken by consensus and compromise. Economic size has two contrasting measures, aggregate GDP and GDP per capita and the Eurozone crisis joins a populous creditor country, Germany, with less populous debtor countries. This paper compares Portugal with other EU member states. Since Portugal is just above the median in population and just below in median GDP it can illustrate how the average EU member state can influence the collective policies of a political Union with half a billion citizens.

The present publication is an integral part of a larger comparative study on EU Member States consultations with civil society on European policy matters. Following a call for tenders launched by the EESC, the EUDO Observatory on Public Opinion, Political Elites and the Media was commissioned to carry out the study under the direction of Didier Chabanet and Professor Alexander H. Trechsel. The publication is identical with the text published by the EESC: http://www.eesc.europa.eu/resources/docs/eesc-2010-21-en.pdf ; Inspired by a European spirit, the EU's national economic and social councils and the EESC worked together tirelessly to create a European network of economic and social councils. Thanks to the commitment of the presidents and members of all the councils, the network has helped forge systematic and structured cooperation on topics of practical relevance in EU policy. Today, the EU's network of economic and social councils and similar institutions is a recognised institutional set-up which is consulted and listened to by the main EU institutions. ; This study was funded by the European Economic and Social Committee