A Broken National Consensus? EU Issue Voting and the Radical Right in Spain

Abstract

This chapter examines the extent to which European Union (EU) politicization exists in diverse media and is fostered by different political parties in Spain. It also delves into the dynamics of EU issue voting in national elections. To deal with the first issue, the chapter considers news published by two main newspapers in Spain, El País and El Mundo, and parliamentary discourses from all political parties with representation. As for the presence of EU issue voting, it utilizes survey data gathered online in May 2019. Results evidence an increase in the salience of EU issues after 2008 that declines again after 2012, and a not-so-clear pattern regarding negative mentions of the EU. However, it is evident that Euroscepticism never dominated public debates in Spain (more salience without more contestation). They also show that preferring less EU integration is associated with having voted for the radical-right VOX both in general and within-ideological-blocks comparisons. Implications and limitations of these results are considered in the conclusion section.