'Staging the EU': Press Events as a Reflection of the EU Polity Game

Our focus is on press events, consisting in forums for discussion of current legislation organized by press companies and sponsored by interest groups (multinational firms or European federations), to which attend political staff and interest group representatives. The analysis of press events reveals the proximity of public and private elites and power relations between them. Scholars working in the tradition of Habermas have repeatedly questioned the existence and structure of the European public space. Even if generalist newspaper columns do not appear as privileged sites for European public debates, media companies specialized in coverage of European Union issues remain one of the meeting points for European policy makers. Recent research work in the political sociology of Europe explores the formal and informal policy making mechanisms (from co-decision to lobbying) as well as the role of different professional groups. In recent years, the reshaping of the European media landscape through takeovers and the creation and bankruptcy of organisations has been accompanied by a diversification of financial resources, notably the rise of hybrid media products like press events, sponsored content and thematic paid newsletters. Now lobbyists use these media products as a common tool of the repertoire of action for the representation of interests. The first part of our contribution studies the development of the market for events organized by EU media from a socio-historical perspective. The second part analyses the differentiated investments of political and economic actors as well as civil society in what constitutes a micro-scene of the field of Eurocracy. Our empirical material consists of ethnographic observations of events organized by press companies in two main areas of public policy—environment and health–and thirty interviews with main stakeholders (sponsoring firms, consultants, journalists, representatives of European institutions) in the purchase, organization and participation in events.