Introduction

Abstract

This book aims to explain the proverbial gap between European Union (EU) institutions and European citizens, discarding one of the standard interpretations among academics and journalists, the so-called “communications gap”, and suggesting instead a cultural and structural explanation of the distant and apolitical character of European institutions. It is my contention that the European public sphere is not dysfunctional because of the lack of commitment of national leaders or the episodic and superficial coverage by journalists. The problem is deeper, and is related to a twin deficit: a combination of lack of domesticisation (the EU is always seen as something remote, out there) and lack of politicisation (the EU is about diplomatic compromise and technocracy, not about the fray of ideological clashes that characterises politics in traditional national democracies).