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  • Blurred lines between electoral and parliamentary representation [Elektronski vir] : the use of constituency staff among members of the European Parliament
    Hermansen, Silje Synnøve Lyder ; Pegan, Andreja, 1985-
    Parliamentarians receive public funding to employ local staff in the constituency. Localstaff help members of parliament to execute their representative duties, but can alsobecome an electoral asset. ... Drawing on theories of personal vote-seeking we studylocal staff as an example of constituency service. Modelling within-individual changesin local staff size among 1174 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), wefindthat the number of local staff increases before both European and national elections,and more so in candidate-centred than party-centred systems. Despite a singleEuropean Parliament (EP) staff system, EU citizens are represented differently dependingon where they elect their members and the electoral system that applies. Attempts tomend the EU’s democratic deficit by strengthening MEPs’contacts with citizens throughlocal staff potentially means that European public money is used to fund EP incumbents’electoral campaigns. We discuss the implications of ourfindings for the democratic func-tioning of the European multi-level system.
    Source: European Union politics [Elektronski vir]. - ISSN 1741-2757 (Vol. 24, iss. 2, 2023, str. 239-263)
    Type of material - e-article
    Publish date - 2023
    Language - english
    COBISS.SI-ID - 141458947

    Link(s):

    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/14651165221149900
    DOI

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