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You’re gonna have to serve somebody: A comparative analysis of the Polish, Danish and Cypriot EU Presidency discourses

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Abstract

How do the communicative events of the Trio Presidencies of Poland, Denmark and Cyprus contribute to the reproduction or transformation of the EU’s social and political order? This research question is addressed by comparing the discourses of the three consecutive Polish, Danish and Cypriot EU Presidencies in the period between 2011 and 2012, using a Fairclough-inspired analytical framework. The overall hegemonic EU discourses identified in this time period are characterized as follows: ‘more Europe’ and ‘more European integration is the only way out of the economic crisis’. However, the three Presidencies attach different meanings to this discourse. The key order of discourse of the Polish Presidency is ‘“More Europe” safeguards freedom and democracy’; the mantra of the Danish Presidency is ‘“More Europe” through tangible results’; and last, the key order of discourse of the Cypriot Presidency is: ‘“More Europe” through more solidarity and social cohesion’. To a certain extent, these differences in the meaning of the hegemonic discourse reflect the interests and ideological foundations of the national governments responsible for the Presidencies; however, this relationship is far from straightforward.

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Notes

  1. The links to the speeches were accessed in March–August 2013. A list of the links referred to in the following can be sent upon request.

  2. This is in contrast to the speeches held in the various Council of Minister formations, which are normally written to a large degree by the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.

  3. The Community Method is the EU’s usual decision-making method whereby the Commission makes a proposal to the Council and Parliament who then debate it, propose amendments and eventually adopt it as EU law.

  4. EEAS is the new EU Foreign Service, the ‘European External Action Service’.

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Acknowledgements

We thankfully acknowledge the helpful comments by CEP reviewers and participants at a seminar held in the Comparative Politics group at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. Christine Møller Nielsen provided research assistance for this article.

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Correspondence to Peter Nedergaard.

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Nedergaard, P., Jensen, M. You’re gonna have to serve somebody: A comparative analysis of the Polish, Danish and Cypriot EU Presidency discourses. Comp Eur Polit 15, 286–309 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2015.18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2015.18

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