Introduction

The lack of a European public sphere has been regarded an important part of the European Union (EU's) democratic deficit. In the words of Habermas, political debates have become increasingly ‘synchronized’ across Europe. From the Eurozone crisis to the struggle of dealing with growing numbers of migrants and refuges entering Europe, EU-wide issues now occupy a salient part of the domestic political debate. European citizens have become more aware of the EU as both part of the problem and the solution when it comes to major public policy concerns. Transnational European issues also feature more prominently as determinants of electoral choice and party competition. When the conflicts in the EU pertain to questions of redistribution and identity, rather than a regulatory push towards free trade, they also take on a more polarizing nature that may sometimes do more to divide Europeans than bring them together.