Making Eu Politics Public How the Eu Institutions Develop Public Communication

'European institutions communicate too little' - this is one of the more recent diagnoses of the phenomenon of increasing EU-fatigue and low voter turnouts during European elections. At the same time, the European Parliament and the European Commission stress that they are trying as never before to make EU-politics public. How can this discrepancy be explained? This dissertation examines - from an action-theoretical and organizational perspective - the intentions, organizational processes, and power structures involved in developing institutional communication in the European Parliament and the European Commission. The inner-institutional insights gained through qualitative interviews provide an explanation as to why these two institutions do not - and indeed cannot - answer to the public. The book also looks at these institutions' ideal conception of democratic communication. This project adds an alternative theoretical perspective to the academic debate regarding the EU's communication deficit. The insights and interrelations will be of great relevance to practitioners of EU-institutional communication. Dissertation.