Elections for the European Parliament will take place on 23-26 May in all EU member states. While the support for the EU membership is currently record high, the forecasts suggest that Eurosceptic and populist movements will gain seats, while many of the traditional pro- European parties will lose out. The elections are therefore expected to follow the political trends of increasing polarization and fragmentation which have characterized many of the recent national elections. The aim of this FIIA seminar is to approach the overall political setting of the EP elections by focusing on three member states: France, Sweden and Finland. What are the key dividing lines in the campaigns? What issues are expected to mobilize the voters? Are the populist challengers able to form strong coalitions at the European level? Will the elections affect the position of national governments and their EU policies?
Puhujat
Christian Lequesne is Professor of European and International Politics at
Sciences Po, Paris. He served as the director of the Center for International
Research (CERI) at Sciences Po from 2009 to 2013. Previously he has been the
Director of the Centre français de recherche en sciences sociales (CEFRES) in
Prague and LSE Sciences Po Alliance Professor at the European Institute of
the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is co-chief editor
(with Christopher Hill) of the European Review of International Studies and is
a member of the editorial board of the Journal of European Integration and The
Hague Journal of Diplomacy. He has written extensively on French European
Politics, EU institutions and policymaking, and diplomacy. Dr Lequesne holds
a Ph.D. in political science and is a former student of the College of Europe in
Bruges.
Jonas Tallberg is Professor of Political Science at Stockholm University,
where he coordinates the research group on global and regional governance.
His primary research interests are global governance and European Union
politics. Tallberg has been a visiting researcher at Harvard University, Stanford
University, McGill University, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Ludwig-
Maximilians-Universität München, Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna,
Centre for Advanced Study in Oslo, and the European Commission. From 2009
to 2011, he chaired the Democratic Audit of the Centre for Business and Policy
Studies (SNS Demokratiråd), and from 2009 to 2015, he served on the Executive
Committee of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR).
Juha Jokela is the Programme Director of the European Union research
programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. His current
research interests include political implications of brexit, differentiated
integration (in EU’s external relations), and the EMU reforms. His previous
projects and publications include political and security developments in the
Arctic, EU’s role in the G20, EU’s Asia policy, Europeanization of foreign
policy, and Finland’s EU policy. Previously he has worked in the EUISS as a
Senior Associated Analyst and Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Advisor in the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Research Fellow and Director of the
Network for European Studies in the University of Helsinki. Dr. Jokela holds a
PhD from the University of Bristol (UK).