Who Cares about Europe? The EU in the 2011 Spanish General Elections

Abstract

This article deals with the role of the EU as an issue in Spanish electoral competition from the accession of this country to the European Community in 1986, as well as the role of the different EU issues in the 2011 Spanish general election. For the analysis of the entire period 1986-2011, MARPOR´s dataset is employed. Regarding the 2011 election, the raw programs of the parties that obtained representation in the Congreso de los Diputados, the only televised debate, and the twitter accounts of the two main parties´ candidates for the Presidency of the Government were used. The methodology is content analysis. Empirical evidence confi rms saliency theory´s expectations. Spanish parties don´t put emphasis on EU affairs, indeed in 2011, that was an early election called as a result of certain unpopular measures, including a constitutional reform, promoted by the former national government on the basis of EU decisions. The evolution of Spanish parties´ EU salience and position differs from changes in these variables in other Member States such as France or Italy. These fi ndings have implications concerning the EU’s democratic legitimacy in Spain.