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‘The elephant in the room’ no more: Europe as a structuring line of political cleavage in the 2017 presidential election

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French Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

It is traditionally argued that the topic of European integration is rather absent or under-discussed in French political debate. In this context, it came as a surprise that the 2017 French presidential election turned into a ‘référendum sur l’appartenance à l’Union’ (Costa 2017). This article argues that after many presidential campaigns where Europe remained ‘the elephant in the room’, 2017 saw its settling as a clear line of cleavage between political parties, relegating the traditional left/right cleavage to a secondary position. The politicisation of socio-economic questions at European level also signalled a move away from the traditional value-based Eurosceptic grounds towards a will to shape the debate in the direction of a more social Europe.

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Notes

  1. ‘Referendum on the EU membership’.

  2. ‘A sovereign Europe which fully respects Nations.’

  3. ‘In focusing European competence on a few crucial areas and in applying strictly the principle of subsidiarity’.

  4. ‘The solution can neither be a return to divided Nation-States nor pursuing economic austerity and its consequence, democratic deficit.’

  5. ‘Our manifesto is not compatible with the rules of the European treaties which impose budgetary austerity, free trade and the destruction of public services.’

  6. ‘Give France its national sovereignty back. Towards a Europe of independent nations, at the service of people.’

  7. ‘Monetary, legislative, territorial, economic’.

  8. ‘At the forefront of the fight for pursuing the European project.’

  9. ‘Have presented an exit from the European Union as a disruptive event which could give a voice back to the 'people’ against the 'system'’.

  10. ‘Inadmissible unfair competition’.

  11. ‘National legislation must apply fully, including with regards social contributions by employers and employees.’

  12. ‘Secretariat General of the Eurozone—completely independent from the European Commission.’

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  1. University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan

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  1. Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan
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Correspondence to Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan.

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Schön-Quinlivan, E. ‘The elephant in the room’ no more: Europe as a structuring line of political cleavage in the 2017 presidential election. Fr Polit 15, 290–302 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41253-017-0041-x

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