Die Sozialisation der osteuropäischen Abgeordneten in das Europäische Parlament

With the Eastern enlargement of the European Union (2004) a large number of new actors from the New Member States entered the European institutions. The European Parliament was particularly affected by these developments. Its party groups had to integrate many new parliamentarians from the new Member States whose parties, party systems and the political culture differ considerably from their Western European counterparts. Thus, the smooth functioning of the European Parliament after the enlargement in 2004 was put into question by numerous analysts and researchers. However, these fears proved to be unfounded and the Parliament has maintained its effectiveness as a European legislator. This study analyses the question as to how the European Parliament managed to "digest" the enlargement so effectively. In particular, the book examines how the new members from Eastern European countries found their way into the European Parliament party groups, taking the EPP-ED group as an example. The main part of the book is based on the interviews conducted in autumn 2007 with members and officials of the European Parliament. The analysis shows how the new members learned parliamentary procedures and looks at their "socialisation" into the working methods of the European Parliament. The considerable differences in the parliamentary behaviour between the members of the New and the Old Member States in the first years after the enlargement could be explained taking into account various national and European-level factors.