Brussels, 22/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - The conference, organised on Friday 19 June by the Centre d'Etudes comparées en communication politique et publique, provided the opportunity for communication experts to analyse the various strategies used in the European election campaigns. “In Italy, it was difficult to know when the campaign began and when it finished,” said Sofia Ventura of the University of Bologna. Issues remained markedly national in the media and these elections were seen by the political parties as opinion polls by which to gauge their national standing. Ventura noted that the campaigns in Italy were highly personalised, with Mr Berlusconi on the Right and Mr Franceschini on the Left. Unlike the campaigns in France, personalisation brought its rewards.
For Germany, Jacob Leidenberger of the University of Nurenberg-Erlangen, highlighted the lack of interest in the European elections among the general population. This, in turn, led candidates not to campaign overly hard. The specific situation in which these elections took place did not help: with elections to the Landtag, local elections and elections to the Bundestag, this is a “mega-electoral year”, which saw the Europeans related to the lower ranks. German candidates, as a rule, did not personalise their campaigns, and the issues raised were largely national, just as was the case in Greece, where the most people felt that there had not been enough political communication.
In Spain, the current economic crisis was the only concern of the media and politicians. Campaigns tried to compare these elections with the Presidential election in the US, building up Zapatero as the “European Obama”. Personalisation was certainly much used in Spain, but the main tactic used by parties was simply to criticise the other parties rather than highlight their own manifestos.
In Belgium, the complex federal organisation, the fact that regional elections were taking place at the same time and compulsory voting did nothing to encourage candidates to go out on the stomp.
So, while decisions to personalise campaigns delivered varying results throughout Europe, the fact remains that the winning tactic in these elections would seem to have been the “Europeanisation” of electoral campaigns. (H.D./transl.rt)