Beyond Euroscepticism. How the French Communists Use the European Parliament

This in-depth inquiry of the uses of the EP by a national political party which is considered to be 'eurosceptic' is useful to understand parties' approach towards this institution beyond their ideological cleavages and official stances towards the EU. The study reveals a complex reality than the results obtained by the classifications of political parties according to their official political stances. The study is based on qualitative methods (archives, interviews).

When the French Communist Party (PCF) members discover the EP in the 1970s and 1980s, they perceived it as a strange and hostile institution with only little political powers. They used the EP as a tribune in order to attack their rival political parties within the French political field. PCF members also used the EP as an arena which which offers different opportunities such as financing resources and international contacts. EP elections were used to provide a parliamentary mandate to the party's leaders (often second ranking ones) who were supposed to take advantage of this title in order to extend the party's influence in their constituencies. As MEPs, PCF members reconciled a critical attitude and a consent to the EP formal and informal rules in order to not be fully marginalized in the institution. The party's MEPs were able to do it due to the lack of interest among the party national leadership for the daily activities of the EP.