Welcome to the fifth edition of our Changeover Countdown series. In this edition, we compare the 2014 electoral manifestos put forward by the four European political parties with most seats in the current European Parliament. We focus on six political themes: the economy, institutional reform, the EU on the world stage, the EU-US trade agreement (TTIP), energy and climate and privacy and the digital agenda.

Elections to the European Parliament have long been an essentially national affair, while electoral manifestos of the European parties were regarded as of little importance. However, we may be experiencing a turn of the tide. For the upcoming European elections in May, for the first time, front runners of the European parties will compete for the position of European Commission president. While these efforts to ‘Europeanise’ the European elections are not appreciated by all national parties, we can still see that some things are changing.

We hope you find this analysis interesting. We look forward to your comments, and to sharing further insights as we move closer to the European Parliament elections and the nominations for European commissioners.

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