Communicating the EU in Europhile and Eurosceptic Spaces: An Examination of European Parliament Information Offices in the Republic of Ireland and Greece

Abstract

This thesis examines the communication strategies of the European Parliament (EP) in member states through its information offices in EU capitals. To address the gap between public perceptions of the EP as a weak body and its real impact in EU decisionmaking, the ways in which it communicates itself to citizens through its offices is investigated. This is combined with an analysis of journalists' coverage of the EP and their cooperation with EP information offices. This examination is based on qualitative interviews with EP officials and journalists from Greece and Ireland. Despite the shared experiences of the two countries during the Eurozone crisis, they have diverged significantly socio-politically and in their attitudes to the EU. This thesis concludes that even though the mission of the EP is expressed quite similarly across both states a lot more specification and political will is necessary for an effective communication strategy to be established.iii This research also only happened because of the EU Travel Grant provided by the Centre for European Studies at Carleton University. This generous funding facilitated my travel to Athens and Dublin and was in turn vital in producing the work presented here.