Eurowhat? an Analysis of the Europeanisation of Belgian Political Parties

This paper analyses the europeanisation of Belgian political parties. The lack of broad scholarly interest in party europeansiation was largly due to the fact that parties seemed impervious to it. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s scholars have reported very limited party europeanisation. Two of main reasons for this were, on the one hand, the absence of a real European-level party systems, and, on the other hand, a lack of salience of the EU as a political issue in national party political debates. These factors are especially true for the Belgian case, where there was a broad "permissive consensus" regarding European integration. 

Since then, however, much has changed, as the many crises puts the EU at the centre of public attention. Scholars report an increase in both the salience of the EU among the general public and the amount of party politics at the EU level. The question then rises: does this have an effect on the europeanisation of parties and party systems?

By looking at several aspects of party europeanisation over the long period 1994-2014, this project will attempt to answer that question for the Belgian case. Breaking down the umbrella term that is europeanisation, the project will consider different types of europeanisation, including programatic and organisational europeanisation. It will look at party programmes, statutes, parliamentary votes and question, as well as interviews conducted over the period under study. In doing to it hopes to add significantly to the literature by conducting a long-term analysis of the Belgian political parties.