Making EU Politics Public

"European institutions communicate too little" – this is one of the more recent diagnoses on the phenomenon of increasing EU-fatigue and low voter turnouts at European elections. At the same time, the European Parliament and the Commission stress that they are trying as much as never before to make EU-politics public. How can this discrepancy be explained? This volume examines – from an action-theoretical and organisational perspective – the intentions, organisational processes and power structures involved in developing institutional communication in the European Parliament and the Commission. The inner-institutional insights gained through qualitative interviews provide an explanation why the two institutions do not - and indeed cannot - answer to public, but also their own ideal conception of democratic communication. This project does not only add an alternative theoretical perspective to the academic debate regarding the EU"s communication deficit. The insights and interrelations worked out are also of great relevance to practitioners of EU-institutional communication.