A key issue ahead of Italy’s European Parliament election is the implementation of the country’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan through which it can spend funds from the EU’s COVID-19 recovery programme. Leila Simona Talani writes that despite Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s once vehement opposition to Brussels, relations between Italy and the EU’s institutions ..read more

Belgium will hold simultaneous federal, regional and European elections on 9 June. Philippe Mongrain and Karolin Soontjens preview the vote, writing that while it is difficult to predict the outcome, the tide seems to have turned in favour of more radical parties. This article is part of a series on the 2024 European Parliament elections ..read more

The European Parliament election in Romania will be just one of four major elections held in the country this year. Alexandru Damian previews the vote and examines the potential impact of the far right. This article is part of a series on the 2024 European Parliament elections. The EUROPP blog will also be co-hosting a ..read more

The rise of new technology means European cities are increasingly “digital cities”. But is this shift changing what it means to be human? Myria Georgiou and Sindhoora Pemmaraju discuss the implications of the “technologisation” of our cities and explain why Myria Georgiou’s new book Being Human in Digital Cities offers a toolkit for navigating new ..read more

In a new study, Tim Vlandas and Daphne Halikiopoulou present new empirical evidence about the effect of jihadist terrorist attacks on far-right party preferences in Europe. Their findings suggest that terrorist attacks are unlikely to decisively change party preferences, despite attracting significant public attention and affecting political attitudes. Terrorism has become an increasingly salient issue ..read more

The European Parliament recently adopted the EU’s first Media Freedom Act. However, as Gerhard Schnyder, Fanni Toth and Marlene Radl explain, the text does not contain a requirement to establish an EU-level media ownership concentration database, with this task delegated to national governments. Drawing on recent research, they argue that such data are key to ..read more

Opinion polling suggests a majority of EU citizens support increased defence cooperation. But does this give a robust mandate for further integration? Drawing on a new study, Matthias Mader, Moritz Neubert, Felix Münchow, Stephanie C. Hofmann and Harald Schoen show that public opinion can change significantly when the costs associated with cooperation are made clear ..read more

The 2024 European Parliament elections in Greece will take place one year on from New Democracy’s victory in the country’s 2023 legislative election. Paris Aslanidis writes the European elections will be used to assess three important domestic political dynamics: the current electoral appeal of New Democracy, the performance of the Greek far right and competition ..read more

Research suggests there is a growing ideological gap between young men and women across the world. Felipe Carozzi and Andrés Gago present evidence from Spain that can provide a partial explanation for this phenomenon. Over the past few months, there has been extensive coverage in the press and social media of the widening ideological gaps ..read more

Peter Pellegrini was elected as the new President of Slovakia in the second round of the country’s presidential election on 6 April. Erik Lastic and Tim Haughton identify four factors that explain Pellegrini’s victory and assess what the result could mean for Slovak democracy. Elections can signal a change of direction or the continuation of ..read more