The reason why European politics is unappealing to citizens
Let's introduce drama into the way we talk and write about European politics.
Why don’t European citizens give a damn about Brussels’ politics? This question gives headaches (and nightmares?) to everyone in the bubble: we Euro-nerds are so fond of it. Why-o-why don’t our families back home care, but also don’t seem to want to care about what is decided for them in Brussels or Strasbourg?
Well - stop scratching your head. I found the definitive answer to this question. I even have a solution that we can use today. So read this piece and take the opportunity of the holiday season to spread the word: everyone can develop a passion for EU politics. Even your gran’.
What’s more boring than EU policymaking?
We have to admit it: EU policymaking is boring. Sure, we all know a weirdo who likes to read 200-page Parliamentary-reports and amendments, who frames Commission’s infographics to her office walls. Still - reading ill-named documentations and legal text is boring as hell. And if the rest of us do it, it’s only because our work depends on it.
What can possibly be as boring as EU policymaking? That’s right: any other legislative procedure.
Think about it: does anyone enjoys regulatory procedures in other countries? We should not ask our friends and families at home to find a passion for ETS, CBAM, and other New European Bauhaus (whatever that’s for) policies - for the same reason that no one cares about Germany’s military programming law, or France’s fiscal rules revamp.
Drama is the spark that provokes interest
The reason why so many people are passionate about home politics is because of the drama. Electors love the not-so-secret battles between leaders of the same party. They want to hear about the dirty tricks that one party played against the other. They crave fierce debates and clashes on TV and Twitter.
That’s the hard truth: no one cares about the policies that politicians vote on (or at least some specialists or a handful of educated citizens). Voters want to see (figurative) blood and (not-so-figurative) tears spilled by politicians in newspapers, on TV studios, and on social media.
Let’s get back to Brussels - not the Belgian capital, but the seat of European institutions. Where’s the drama? Where are the tears? the verbal assaults? the shameful - yet so delectable - behaviors?
Let’s put drama back to European politics - people will start caring about it just like any wasp is attracted to summer fruits.
We don’t need more drama - we need another narrative
Let me state it clearly: I’m not advocating for more drama in EU politics. We don’t even need more: it’s there. In the Parliament’s labyrinthine corridors, Shakespearean plays are already unfolding (Uber files, Commission-Hungary clash over recovery funds, etc.).
What we need is not better stories, it’s a better way to tell them. European-centric newspapers are as boring as the reports they write on. They need to talk about backroom deals, the clashes, the egos, the plots, etc. In my opinion, only POLITICO does it well. That’s not enough.
That’s not enough because they write in English (no EU state has English as its official language anymore), and for a Brussels-based audience, already in the know.
What we need is a new generation of journalists - and passionate bloggers such as your servant - that are ready and willing to put European political drama into the local press.
What can you do?
You can be part of this “repolitisation” of European politics. Take the opportunity of the holidays to talk to your friends and family at home. Hint at the drama you learned about recently. See how they react. Link their reactions to local politics to the grand scheme of things at the European Parliament’s level.
I’m sure that with these few tricks only, people will want to pay more attention to European politics. Repeat as soon as you visit them. Become your source of EU news if you must. Over time, they will grow fond of Brussels’ intrigues.
That being said, I hope you will use The Beubble as an information source when talking EU drama to your friends. Do subscribe, share to a colleague, and see you tomorrow.
More ECIs are a part of the solution. But speaking about drama, and you are making several important points plus that there is much academic research about European "democratic deficit", I would say that instead of drama the future should be about co-creation, delegative participation and better connections to MEPs. For example, if MEPs were not politicians and political party members but were "ordinary" individuals and citizens instead, that could lead to better connection between the delegates (MEPs) and their followers / community members.