Based on original data, this article analyses the politicization of European issues in European elections. Contrary to scholarly expectations, our findings show a higher level of politicization of European issues compared to national elections. However, politicization has been declining in both electoral arenas from the early 2000s until 2014 despite the increasing visibility of radical Eurosceptic parties. This paper suggests that this decline in politicization is a consequence of relatively low levels of emphasis put on the EU issue by mainstream political parties. It argues that Eurosceptic parties have had a paradoxical effect on politicization, since mainstream parties have responded to the former's mobilizing efforts by de-emphasizing European issues rather than pursuing a confrontational strategy. This finding is corroborated by the 2019 elections, where we observe remarkably high levels of politicization in those countries where mainstream parties have been forced to open the debate around European issues.

中文翻译：

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在欧洲议会选举中将欧洲政治化（1994-2019）：主流政党的关键作用

本文以原始数据为基础，分析了欧洲选举中欧洲问题的政治化。与学术界的预期相反，我们的调查结果显示，与全国选举相比，欧洲问题的政治化程度更高。然而，从 2000 年代初到 2014 年，两个选举领域的政治化程度一直在下降，尽管激进的欧洲怀疑论政党的知名度不断提高。本文认为，这种政治化程度的下降是主流政党对欧盟问题重视程度相对较低的结果。它认为，疑欧政党对政治化产生了矛盾的影响，因为主流政党通过淡化欧洲问题而不是追求对抗战略来回应前者的动员努力。