Abstract
Based on an analysis of parliamentary debates and party manifestos from 2000 to 2022 in three EU countries of emigration, this article responds to the following question: How emigration is discussed in the political discourse, by whom and why? The research on Poland, Portugal and Romania reveals that parties of the left and right address the societal impacts of emigration whilst simultaneously acknowledging the appreciation of citizens of EU freedoms. Tackling this conundrum, parties call for domestic demarcation for an issue that is partially European. They advocate for state intervention to improve working and living conditions and express concern for the sustainability of the national community responding to demographic changes. The variation amongst the case countries is evident in the dominance of a rightist framing in Central and Eastern Europe, emphasizing state intervention and concerns for the nation, and a leftist framing in Southern Europe, advocating solely for state intervention into the economy. Differently structured party systems and strength of cleavages explain this variation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 160-178 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors like to thank Michael Blauberger, Anna Kyriazi, Suat Alper Orhan and Susanne K. Schmidt for their very valuable comments on drafts of the manuscript at workshops at Bremen University and a mini symposium at CES in Iceland in 2023. Comments from colleagues at the Migration Policy Centre and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies received during a research stay at EUI during spring 2023 greatly advanced the conceptual framework of this article. This work was supported by a grant (458587043) from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for the project \u2018Paradoxes of EU freedom of movement\u2019.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies published by University Association for Contemporary European Studies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.