Abstract

This article examines how the main Italian newspaper, the Corriere della Sera, treated the question of the European Parliament (EP) and Italian EP members in the three months preceding the 2009 EP elections. Beginning with an analysis of comment pieces and editorials on these topics, this article discusses the main rhetorical frames used to treat the European elections. Three main categories are used for our analysis: (1) The views expressed on the usefulness and effectiveness of the EP; (2) the representations presented by the newspaper of Italian EP members; (3) the judgments on the election campaign choices of the two main political parties, particularly as regards candidate selection. On the basis of the evidence presented, the article notes that the Corriere della Sera often tended to present the EP elections in what we might term an «antipolitical» frame and offered a vision of representation at EU level which merits further investigation.