Les deputes Européens entre allegeances multiples et logique d’institution

Abstract:

The question of legitimisation in the European Union can be seen in very different lights depending on whether its politics, its institutions or the integration project itself is under scrutiny, and is posed in contrasting terms according to the angle of approach which is adopted. This article aims to envisage the question from the point of view of the European Parliament (EP) and of its members (MEPs). It examines the way in which the behaviour and speech of MEPs are conditioned by the imperative of legitimisation and, conversely, analyses how this imperative is redefined by the inclusion of the MEPs in a network of complex and contrasting allegiances. The central hypothesis is that the legitimisation of their positions and decisions is one of the keys to the functioning of the institution, as much in its internal as in its external aspects.