The ARENAS consortium is comprised of a multi-disciplinary group of experts, each respected in their own field, and in their wider national and European community. Recently two of our Work Package leaders, Julien Longhi of CY Cergy Paris University and Katalin Miklóssy from the University of Helsinki had opinion pieces published reflecting on the results of the European Parliament Elections.
Julien Longhi, a Professor of Discourse Analysis and Digital Humanities is featured in The Conversation, “an independent source of news analysis and informed comment written by academic experts, working with professional journalists who help share their knowledge with the world.” In his piece « Front » populaire contre « Rassemblement » national : un renversement par la charge sémantique des mots (theconversation.com), he considers the term ‘Front Populaire’ and its use by political parties and politicians in the run-up to the forthcoming French National elections. While the term ‘popular’ has grown increasingly attractive to both political activists and their supporters in recent years, the adjective is ambiguous and demands closer examination to understand what it means in various contexts, especially in relation to the Front Populaire of 1936 which is very iconic in the discursive memory of the left.
In her article Nationalist East in L!bera, Katalin Miklóssy reviews and summarises the European election results in Eastern Europe. She argues that the importance of Eastern parties will only grow in the European Parliament and will increasingly affect the profile as well as the decision-making of the European party families.
In his article, “Spain: Why Nothing Changes“, (published in Italian magazine “Affari Internazionali”), Steven Forti offers an examination of the results in the Iberian country. He highlights the strengthening of the two large parties – popular and socialist – and a slight increase in the far right – both of Vox and of a new list, The party’s over, of a conspiracy theorist influencer -. In general, however, Forti maintains, there are no major changes compared to the 2023 legislative elections: the country remains divided into two blocs (left vs right) and the socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez does not emerge weakened by the European vote.
The impact of the election results remains to be seen, but the analysis of experts like those participating in ARENAS helps to put the results in context and offers great insights into the changes currently taking place in European politics and society.
