| The pan-European project is funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Programme from 2008 up to 2011. This three-year design study will assess the feasibility of an upgrade to the European Election Studies that will provide an infrastructure for research into citizenship, political participation, and electoral democracy in the European Union (EU). The scientific and technical feasibility of this infrastructure will be investigated by means of a pilot study conducted in the context of the 2009 elections to the European parliament. If the pilot study is successful the EES will be in a position to request funds to create a comprehensive empirical database that would endow the social science community with the most essential information required for a recurrent audit of the most important aspects of the electoral process in the European Union. At the same time as providing evidence for a feasibility assessment, the pilot study will provide the basis for a fully-fledged study of the European Parliament elections of 2009, comprising a voters study, a candidate study, a media study, a manifestos study, and a contextual data study. PIREDEU involves more than 20 participating researchers from some 14 institutions in western and eastern Europe and a large community of affiliated experts from all EU member states. |
