Seminar: Interrogating the Opposition? The Use of Blue-Card Questions in the European Parliament -  (opens in a new window)Verena Kunz (University of Mannheim)

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Date: 10 June, 2020

14:00-15:00 - Connected_Politics Seminar: Text Analysis and Political Parties

Abstract: In many parliamentary systems, legislators can use interjections to spontaneously react to opponents’ views during the debate. Such interjections, called blue-card questions, have been introduced in the European Parliament in 2009. However, in contrast to national parliaments there is no formal government and opposition in the European Parliament. Instead, governing coalitions tend to form on an issue-by-issue basis. Until now, we know little about the role that blue-card questions play with regard to government-opposition dynamics as well as party competition in the European Parliament. Using network and quantitative text analysis of all blue-card interactions in the 8th European Parliament (2014 - 2019), I investigate how MEPs make use of blue-card questions. The findings will contribute to our understanding of the functioning of the European Parliament.