Parties and the party system of Serbia and European integrations

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the impact of the Europeanization process on the parties and party system of Serbia. First of all, we consider five fields of party Europeanization: political/programme contents, organization, the model (pattern) of party competition, the party–government relationship and the relationship with the supranational party system, as well as the specifics of a case study of Serbia. Political parties play a central role in contemporary European politics. The term ‘Europe’ has become pretty flexible. Many perceive themselves as being part of it, yet formally many are still outside it. Political parties are at the same time both subjects and objects of changes conditioned by European integration processes. In states that are becoming members of the European Union (EU), parties have played an active role but they themselves have undergone changes in this process. While old members created European policies, new members are only in position to incorporate them in their legal and political systems. After the first direct elections for the European Parliament in 1979, we can also talk about the European party system alongside the national party systems. The latter differ depending on the actual phase a state is in within the European integration process: a member, a candidate, in the negotiation process or simply a prospective applicant for EU membership. Political parties, torn by processes related to international or supranational entities, are stillmore efficient innational arenas. For the member states, European integrations have created a new arena for party activity and for 30 years already party elites have been preparing candidates and party manifestoes in competition for the European Parliament. In this way, parties are building bridges among sovereign nations and via supranational sovereignty which makes decisions related to member states. MEPs are elected in as many ways (diverse sets of election rules) as there are members of the EU. At the EU level, political parties are represented in a dual way: as party groups