The conference «European elections: populism & euroscepticism», organised by the Mediaflows research group and the Menéndez Pelayo International University, was held in Valencia from 20 to 22 November 2019. The directors have been Germán Llorca Abad and Guillermo López García; the secretaries, Vicente Fenoll and Marina Requena.
The European elections of 23-26 May 2019 take place in a scenario of particular uncertainty. The rise of populist movements of different ideologies, often linked to Eurosceptic positions, combines with a critical situation in the European Union and an institutional crisis deriving essentially from the consequences of Brexit, United Kingdom’s exit scheduled for on or before 1 November of this year. But there is also an underlying economic and political crisis, in a world where European influence is declining.
At the inauguration of Mediaflows Conference 2019, the director of the event, Guillermo López García, welcomed the attendees along with academic representatives of the UIMP, Augustin Domingo Moratalla, director of UIMP, José Manuel Sánchez Duarte, (secretary UIMP and Mediaflows member) and Rubén Martínez Dalmau, Vice-president of the Generalitat Valenciana.
Our first keynote speaker Joan Botella Corral, Professor of Political Science from Autonomous University of Barcelona talked about “The 2019 Spanish Electoral Cycle: from the general to the European ones”.
First panel of discussion in #MediaflowsEUElections was about “2019 Election year in Spain” with the participation of Javier Callejo Gallego (Professor of Sociology, UNED), María Luisa Humanes (Professor of Journalism, Rey Juan Carlos University) and José Fernández Albertos (Spanish National Research Council, Spain).
This panel was moderated by Marina Requena from University of Valencia.
In the afternoon we have had several presentations in our two panels about “Citizen Mobilisation” and “Elections”.
First Panel about “Citizen Mobilisation” was moderated by María Iranzo Cabrera (University of València) and Carmen López Rico (Miguel Hernández University), Mediaflows members.
Adolfo Carratalá and Dolors Palau Sampío presentation about “Mobilising the young vote. Activism and political involvement in the Spanish #Estavezvoto campaign” in our conference #MediaflowsEUElections.
Second panel about “Elections” was moderated by our Mediaflows member Adolfo Carratalá from University of Valencia.
The presentation of Anastasia Ioana Pop, (University of Valencia) our Mediaflows member, about “Political discourse on immigration in the 2019 European Election campaign in Spanish media”.
The second day of the #MediaflowsEUElections began with keynote speaker Maurice Vergeer, Media Researcher at Radboud University, Netherlands presenting “DIGITAL NEWS & SOCIAL MEDIA ROLE IN FILTERING AND SHAPING PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE EU”.
We have to a panel of discussion in our conference #MediaflowsEUElections about “MISINFORMATION & FAKE NEWS: FROM BREXIT TO EUROPEAN ELECTIONS 2019” with Daphne Halikiopoulou (University of Reading, UK), Emilia Palonen (University of Helsinki, Finland), Darren Lilleker (Bournemouth University, UK) and Dolors Palau Sampío (University of Valencia), moderated by Germán Llorca Abad (University of València).
Third panel was about “Social Networks” was moderated by María Díez Garrido (University of Valladolid) and Agnese Sampietro (Jaume I University of Castellón).
Our Mediaflows members Germán Llorca Abad, Guillermo López García, Vicente Fenoll, Anastasia Ioana Pop and José Gamír Ríos presentation about: «Europe and Euroscepticism on Twitter: analysis of Twitter accounts of spanish candidates for European Parliament during 2019 elections».
The last panel about “Euroscepticism and populism” moderated by Lidia Valera Ordaz (University of València).
In the last day of the Conference we had two main events: on the one hand, a panel of discussion about “European Elections 2019 from a comparative perspective” and, on the other, the closing conference about “A reflection on today’s (so-called) populism moment”. “A reflection on today’s (so-called) populism moment”.
Panel of discussion in our conference #MediaflowsEUElections about “European Elections 2019 from a comparative perspective” with Melanie Magin (NTNU, Trondheim, Norway), Jörg Haßler (University of Munich, Germania), Delia Cristina Balaban (Babes-Bolyai University, Romania) and Andrea Ceron (University of Milan, Italy). The panel was moderated by our Mediaflows member Vicente Fenoll (University of Valencia).
The closing speech, entitled “A reflection on today’s (so-called) populism moment” was made by Susana Salgado, University of Lisbon – Institute of Social Sciences, Portugal.
