[5] They argue that the democratic void is partly due to the absence of a political community defined by a shared European identity (i.e., a common public sphere).
[6] A panel of experts chaired by Hakan G. Sicakkan and Slavko Splichal reflected on the four mainstream models to explain the formation of a European public sphere".
For instance, a study by S. Edgerly et al. shows that new mass media such as social networks like YouTube can be used as platform to support a public sphere.
[12] Thanks to the wide range of voices which can be expressed, its ability to reach out to the masses, to propose social and political contents, YouTube can be viewed as a relevant online space for public discussion.
Consequently, Michael Brüggeman and Hagen Schulz-Forberg find that the audience of transnational media (such as Arte) in Europe is small but influential.
[9] One example is Euronews which has an increasing audience, broadcasting in thirteen different languages and reaching 400 million households in 155 countries.
They concluded that media coverage of the EU4s socio-economic strategy is Europeanized but found that the debate is only made by and for people already interested in the EU.
In their paper, Maria Trif and Doug Imig argue that the development of a "realm of contentious political engagement with European policies appears to be part of the process of building Europe".
[16] They find that a broad range of actors (NGOs, trade unions, federations of workers and/or companies) use the repertoire of contentious politics to voice their demands.
A concrete example of a pan-European social movement momentarily creating a proper European public space is the TTIP protest.
Among those controversies, there is the secrecy of negotiations, the lack of transparency, its relative effect on the European economy and the high number of classified contents.
These social movements use a wide range of tools: institutional with the European Citizens' Initiative or petitions, physical protests...
Furthermore, it shows how social protests manage to create ad hoc pan-European public spaces to voice opinion and debate relevant subjects of the EU integration.
[1] The interest of citizens for the elections which are arguably one of the most important events for political debates at the EU level teaches us more about the state of the European public sphere.
One of the examples of the ways that can increase the visibility of European political parties in the national campaigns in member states is to ensure the logos and the names of the European parties to be visible on the national ballot papers, but few member states of the EU implement this proposal.
The most prominent proposal comes from the 'Duff report' elaborated by the former British MEP (Member of European Parliament) Andrew Duff.