Demographics of the 2014 Italian MEPs between Second Order and Europeanization Effects
Faculty Advisor Name
Dr. John Scherpereel
Description
Between the 2013 Italian national elections and the 2014 European Parliament elections, an unprecedented change has occurred in Italian parliamentary demographics, and to a lesser extent, in the overall EP demographics as well. With the rise of the Movimento Cinque Stelle (M5S) led by Beppe Grillo, and the success of Matteo Renzi's Partito Democratico in the 2013 elections, the Italian government now has a record-breaking gender balance and a much lower average age of its politicians. This paper argues that this demographic change is mirrored in the 2014 European Parliament both due to the uploading of national issues from the Italian to the supranational level, as well as the downloading of supranational issues from the European to the Italian level.
Graphs presented in the paper reveal significant demographic changes in Italian EP members from 2009 to 2014, as well as differences in average MEP age by supranational party.
The paper also compares the Italian EP results to those of other countries that underwent significant austerity measures in order to determine the correlation between austerity and the EP demographics change in age and gender. Its study reveals a change in the traditionally strong political parties in other countries (primarily Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus) but not to the extent that they were challenged in Italy. However, the austerity measures were a significant factor in the EP demographics changes overall, since among northern EU countries (which experienced little or no austerity from the EU) there was very little change in age demographics in their MEPs, who tend to be older than the overall EU average.
Demographics of the 2014 Italian MEPs between Second Order and Europeanization Effects
Between the 2013 Italian national elections and the 2014 European Parliament elections, an unprecedented change has occurred in Italian parliamentary demographics, and to a lesser extent, in the overall EP demographics as well. With the rise of the Movimento Cinque Stelle (M5S) led by Beppe Grillo, and the success of Matteo Renzi's Partito Democratico in the 2013 elections, the Italian government now has a record-breaking gender balance and a much lower average age of its politicians. This paper argues that this demographic change is mirrored in the 2014 European Parliament both due to the uploading of national issues from the Italian to the supranational level, as well as the downloading of supranational issues from the European to the Italian level.
Graphs presented in the paper reveal significant demographic changes in Italian EP members from 2009 to 2014, as well as differences in average MEP age by supranational party.
The paper also compares the Italian EP results to those of other countries that underwent significant austerity measures in order to determine the correlation between austerity and the EP demographics change in age and gender. Its study reveals a change in the traditionally strong political parties in other countries (primarily Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus) but not to the extent that they were challenged in Italy. However, the austerity measures were a significant factor in the EP demographics changes overall, since among northern EU countries (which experienced little or no austerity from the EU) there was very little change in age demographics in their MEPs, who tend to be older than the overall EU average.
