Presented thesis is focusing on the dependence and relationship between Europarties and groups of the European Parliament and Europarties and national parties. The research is carried out on five Europarties: European People's Party (EPP), the Social Democratic Party (PES), the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the European Green Party (EGP) and the Party of the European Left (PEL) in the period 2004-2013 and it focuses on three areas: Europarties' financing, its leadership and autonomy in decision making. It presents several conclusions. Since 2004 Europarties became independent on the EP groups and more independent on the national parties in the area of financing in connection with the Regulation No. 2004/2003 regulating financing while their resources have been growing. On the other hand, all three organizational structures are still involved in the decision making as is shown on the example of nominations and subsequent elections of the so-called Spitzenkandidaten (candidates for the President of the European Commission) and the hierarchy within the European party families is similar to the hierarchy of its member parties. Presented thesis also highlights the considerable personal connections between EP groups and the top positions in the Europarties and it underlines...

Elections to the European Parliament are characterised by a steady decline in voter turnout. To tackle this problem, in 2014, several groups of the European Parliament nominated pan-European Spitzenkandidaten who were expected to personalise the elections and mobilise European voters. Based on this development, this study analyses the media cov-erage of the 2014 EP elections with special focus on the role of the Spitzenkandidaten. A quantitative content analysis of European election campaign coverage in the opinion leading newspapers of three influential EU member states, Ger-many, France, and the United Kingdom was carried out. The results show large candidate- and country-specific differ-ences regarding the visibility and thematic coverage of the EP elections in general as well as the presentation of the Spitzenkandidaten. The Spitzenkandidaten were not very visible in either the German, French, or British newspaper cov-erage. With respect to the presence and media personalisation of the Spitzenkandidaten, the newspaper coverage of the EP election does not demonstrate any mobilising effect and thus does not reflect the high expectations the European Parliament attributed to the nomination of the Spitzenkandidaten.

Elections to the European Parliament are characterised by a steady decline in voter turnout. To tackle this problem, in 2014, several groups of the European Parliament nominated pan-European Spitzenkandidaten who were expected to personalise the elections and mobilise European voters. Based on this development, this study analyses the media cov-erage of the 2014 EP elections with special focus on the role of the Spitzenkandidaten. A quantitative content analysis of European election campaign coverage in the opinion leading newspapers of three influential EU member states, Ger-many, France, and the United Kingdom was carried out. The results show large candidate- and country-specific differ-ences regarding the visibility and thematic coverage of the EP elections in general as well as the presentation of the Spitzenkandidaten. The Spitzenkandidaten were not very visible in either the German, French, or British newspaper cov-erage. With respect to the presence and media personalisation of the Spitzenkandidaten, the newspaper coverage of the EP election does not demonstrate any mobilising effect and thus does not reflect the high expectations the European Parliament attributed to the nomination of the Spitzenkandidaten.