Political parties have a central role to play in animating the public space and in stimulating citizen participation and engagement. European integration, therefore, requires transnational political parties which can mobilize citizens on Europe-wide political issues and contribute to the creation of a European civil society. With the prospect of a federal Union, the progressive establishment of a transnational party system - within which parties operate and compete with each other on a continental scale and are themselves organised according to federal principles - is the indispensable counterpart to institutional reforms.

State of play

So far, only a number of associations and think tanks have taken up the public debate at European level. Political parties are absent, even though they are key players in European elections. National parties bring European issues through the prism of national politics. They have no incentive to add a European dimension to their action as long as political decisions on European-wide issues are not actually taken at the European level. Existing “Political parties at European level” (hereafter Europarties) remain umbrella organizations for national parties. Their governing bodies are confederal by nature. They operate in the same way as the current intergovernmental modus operandi of the EU: bringing together decision-makers of their political family ahead of European summits or Council meetings; coordinating action by party members within EU institutions and peripheral organisations, and shaping agendas; facilitating exchange of information; and organising congresses where electoral programmes and manifestos are adopted by consensus on the lowest common denominator. Thus, Europarties are in an institutional rather than activist logic. Here again, there is currently little incentive for change. The EU is not politicized along the left/right cleavage. There is limited opportunity to run for power. The various configurations of the Council do not emanate from an electoral process. Europarties have a limited office-seeking role because access to key positions in EU institutions is fundamentally controlled by national parties. It is only recently, with the Spitzenkandidaten process, that Europarties have become actors in elections to the European Parliament and that the Commission may become the expression of a political majority.

Political parties in Europe are currently linked through rather complex and hardly visible affiliations. The successive waves of enlargement of the EU have led to considerable ideological dilution. There is now a wide spread of ideological views, including among members of a Europarty: what is common among “Les Républicains” in France, the German CDU, Forza Italia and Viktor Orbán's party, all affiliated to EPP? Many countries have a large number of parties, two or three of them competing locally although affiliated to the same Europarty. In this context, it is difficult to have a structured political debate on European challenges.

How should this evolve?

It is usually held that there is the dual need to “europeanize” national parties and to strengthen Europarties, which should become campaigning organisations. Following that reasoning, however, there is the unfortunate tendency to make a clear distinction between two categories of parties, and even oppose them against each other, whereas European integration and concomitant transnational issues require transnational parties where the distinction between national and European parties fades with time.

Specifically, whenever the attention is focused on Europarties, as they now exist, one wrongly suggest that they should exist on their own. This is the case, for instance, when it is argued that Europarties should emancipate from their national counterparts to become “full-fledged” parties. Let's be careful with regard to the meaning of words: a “full-fledged party” should not mean a distinct or independent party. This may possibly suggest that Europarties should evolve towards full-function organisations, thus becoming true laboratories of ideas and militant forces. It would be more appropriate, however, to say that Europarties should become supranational organs of transnational parties, dealing with supranational issues.

In the same vein, one has to be cautious when referring to the “specific role” of Europarties. Article 10, para. 4, of the Treaty states: “Political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness and to expressing the will of citizens of the Union.” As an extension of this statement, it is generally advocated that Europarties should provide direct links with European civil society; connect EU-level democracy with Union citizens; stimulate citizen mobilisation on European issues; and more generally create a European civil society. Yet, it must be recognized that this mission is not exclusive to, nor even the preferential role of, Europarties. Under the current configuration, national parties are best placed to provide European integration with a local foundation and citizenry participation. In an electoral process, ideological closeness to the local electorate is paramount for the electoral results achieved by different parties. Whatever the degree of European integration, territorial and social identity will legitimately remain.

This inevitably raises the thorny issue of Europarties' individual membership. Here again, it is not quite appropriate to advocate such a status on the sole grounds of providing Europarties with a larger democratic base beyond their institutional members, the national parties. There is here another risk of opposing two categories of parties. This status can be justified temporarily only, namely as long as national parties exclude European issues from the political debate.

The long-term solution is to build up transnational party federations, according to the models of mainstream political parties in federal states such as Germany (CDU, SPD …), Switzerland (SVP, SPS, FDP …) or the U.S. (Republican and Democratic parties), which are present and identified as such at all territorial levels of the federation. Of course, the sui generis character of the EU make it rather difficult: it requires considerable ideological clarification; disparate political parties must evolve into a broadly progressive vision of Europe; and the ideological offer of the various parties must be sharpened. There is good reason to believe that all this will inevitably happen if the EU moves towards an “ever closer union”. In the ultimate context of a federal Europe, transnational parties will also operate under federal principles, simply because the level of political decision determines the level of intervention of a political party.

With this objective in mind, strengthening existing Europarties is an important and necessary starting point. It is not, however, an end in itself. First and foremost, all initiatives, whether undertaken by the European legislator or the parties themselves, should emphasize the development of synergies within parties of each political family. A case in point is the elections to the European Parliament (see below). But there are numerous other examples of possible interactions between national and Europarties, and among sister national parties, which can favour transnational convergence and, hence, transnational party-building: thematic working groups to formulate common policies; mutual support in national contests; joint campaigning on pan-European issues, etc. Thus, synergies must develop both vertically and horizontally. In a wise political vision of federalism, perimeters are juxtaposed as much as they are superposed.

Ultimately, transnational parties must integrate within a transnational party system, within which they interact with each other and compete for influence and power. Considerable research has been undertaken, with some controversy, on the nature and operational mode of such a system (Mair, Bardi, Hix, Bartolini …). To make it simple, reference is made here to a study[¹] prepared by the Observatory on Political Parties and Representation at the European University Institute. The study concludes that a genuine transnational party system requires more than simply the presence of transnational parties. There must be a European structure of political competition in which transnational parties can challenge one another for decisions that would be taken at European level, and for control of executive office in particular. Such a structure does not yet exist. Thus, the problem is institutional rather than political, and a true transnational party system can reasonably be contemplated in the context of a federal Union.

Federal organization of parties: what does it mean?

In a federal configuration, each party formation is represented at each territory level –  federal, regional, cantonal, municipal (with possible exceptions at the lower levels) - with a full array of representative bodies, offices, budgets and leadership. Decisions on federal-wide issues are taken by congresses and executive bodies (assembly of delegates, executive committee, conference of presidents …), whose members are elected democratically by the grassroots of the party. Majority voting is the general rule. These decisions are binding on all lower levels.  Implementation is the responsibility of subsidiary bodies, which are otherwise fully competent to deal entirely with issues that exclusively relate to regional or local competences within the federal state.

Elections to federal institutions, for instance, is the occasion of a collective undertaking. Federal organs adopt a common manifesto and a campaigning strategy. Thereafter, electoral campaigns are conducted in the various constituencies by the relevant local party's bodies. These campaigns may reflect geographical differences in terms of visibility of thematic priorities, as well as some local ownership with respect to local sensibilities, but habitually they do not depart from the agreed general framework. Candidates are nominated at the constituency level, possibly in consultation (usually informal) with federal organs.

Political activism normally takes place at the local level, which does not prevent debates on broader challenges. Federal-level-related issues may be subject to discussion forums, ad hoc formal consultations of party's individual members, internal elections, etc., in the spirit of sustained interaction between militants and executive bodies at the various levels of the party federation. Joining a party at the lower level provides ipso facto membership status irrespective of the geographical coverage of that party. The distinction between institutional and individual members is no longer relevant.

European elections: a unique opportunity

European Parliament elections have so far failed to produce an “electoral connection” between European citizens and politics at the European level. Electoral campaigns remain largely centered on national considerations. In this context, pro-European circles generally believe that only transnational lists can make these elections more European. However, the proposal – which foresees that each elector would be enabled to cast one vote for the EU-wide list in addition to his/her vote for the national or regional list – is likely to perpetuate the distinction between national and European parties, and even oppose them against each other. Furthermore, there is a risk of misinterpretation of the vote by the elector, who might consider voting “European” with the transnational list only, and “national” for the vast majority of the seats to be allocated through national lists.

Bearing in mind also the fact that the proposal is unlikely to be ever accepted by Member States, which are keen to maintain their prerogatives in the electoral process as well as their quota in the European Parliament, other ways to make these elections more European must be sought. Here again, it is necessary to favour measures that can contribute to the ultimate objective of unifying parties of the same political family. These parties should jointly convey a European message and propose a European project. This implies a propaganda centered on European-wide topics and the European manifesto; high visibility of Europarties, including their Spitzenkandidaten, in campaign materials, medias, and possibly public debates; and, ultimately, names and logos of both the national and the European party on ballot papers.

In the event that all this proves to be insufficient for the elector to finally realize that what is at stake is not supporting or sanctioning the national government in place, a good alternative to transnational lists – although temporarily as long as European and national parties are still viewed as distinct entities – is to directly cast all votes for Europarties, even though electoral lists are established at the level of regional constituencies. For example, a German citizen, within his/her constituency, casts his/her vote for EPP, not for CDU. Strong psychological shock guaranteed. Pan-European campaigns are devised and coordinated by Europarties, but run in a decentralized manner together with their national member parties. This is a good way to promote genuine transnational campaigning and EU level party programmes – the key objective of transnational lists - with the advantage that it applies to all seats in Parliament, while preserving local constituencies and national quotas. At the same time, other objectives are attained, such as increasing legitimacy of the European Parliament, preserving its homogeneity, and addressing the various facets of MEPs' accountability. All practical and formal aspects of the procedure have been analyzed in a proposal[²] for “double proportionality” in the allocation of seats (countries and parties) made by Professors Oelbermann and Pukelsheim.

Remaining focused on the long term

A number of initiatives that are put forward to stimulate the public debate on European issues are in fact transitional measures which can act as a spur to political actors, particularly national political parties. The europeanisation of these parties is indeed a top immediate priority. Similarly, efforts to develop full-function Europarties at the same time are commendable. For instance, the status of individual membership in Europarties, as they now exist, is fully justified as long as they have no roots in the electorate of Member States. Great care must be taken, however, not to compromise the more long-term concern, namely the central role political parties have to play, necessarily at all levels, in the setting-up of a European-wide political space and an effective European democracy. This requires transnational parties. Great care must be taken, therefore, not to take initiatives that are likely to further divide the existing party configurations, as this could well happen with a “two-votes” system in European elections.

Is this vision realistic? In the light of the current crisis of confidence in traditional political parties which have become the most disliked component of democracies, some will argue that a simple transfer of the principal trappings of national democratic systems to the next higher level is insufficient or perhaps even plainly wrong. Hence the creation of new political parties and the expansion of various citizen movements, all aimed at talking more about Europe, and in a different way. Yet, it is doubtful that decisive progress towards European integration can be achieved without mainstream political parties.

[1] http://www.eui.eu/Projects/EUDO-OPPR/Documents/StudyOPPR-PE.pdf

[2] https://www.math.uni-augsburg.de/emeriti/pukelsheim/2011a.pdf