How members of national parliaments in the EU also speak for other EU nationals

What is it about?

Conventional wisdom has it that national politicians represent no one but their national citizens. We argue that this conventional, nation-centred understanding is inadequate, and that we need new understandings of democratic representation in an internationalised world. We introduce the notion of transnational representation: Transnational representation takes place when a member of a national parliament makes representative claims on behalf of foreign citizens. We show that it happens in the national parliaments of Austria, Germany and Ireland during the Eurozone crisis and that especially left-wing MPs oppose EU decisions in the name of other EU nationals.

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Why is it important?

Transnational representation brings the perspectives of other EU nationals into domestic will-formation, but also relies on national parliaments as our established representative institutions. It may foster transnationally linked public spheres in Europe and beyond.