“Framing Covid-19: Crises narratives and Europeanization in French, German and Swedish public discourse” – 23 September 2021
The paper analyzes the construction of a shared narrative of the crises entailed from the Covid-19 pandemic among the European elite through a computer-assisted analysis of official communication of heads of government as well as health and economy ministers of France, Germany and Sweden between January and December 2020. By combining the literature on crisis framing and the production of ‘symbolic outputs’, we investigate the process through which leaders’ discourses converge to empower the EU as a means of tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and mitigating its economic and social impact. Results contribute to a better understanding of how crises may contribute to cooperation among Member States and how public discourse seeks to legitimate institutional change at the EU level.
Tatiana COUTTO is a Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellow at the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics (CEE), Sciences Po Paris.
