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Towards an ever stronger politicization? How members of the European Parliament deal with values in social networks

ABSTRACT Since the 2000s, the reference to ‘values’ has become a key topic in the legitimation and politicization of the European Union (EU). This article studies to which extent and how members of the European Parliament (MEPs) mobilize values in their Facebook communication and whether it contributes to the politicization – understood as polarization – of their discourse. Our findings show that references to values are minor in MEPs’ Facebook discourse. Differences are visible along national and party lines and according to issues at stake. However, no clear patterns emerge to relate specific value narratives to stable coalition- or conflict-lines. Empirically, the article analyses Facebook posts by MEPs of four nationalities (France, Italy, Poland and Hungary) in pre- and post-electoral times (March 2019 – March 2020). Theoretically, it contributes to the literature on the politicization and legitimation of the EU ; and on MEPs’ communication and use of social networks.