European Election Studies 2019: Manifesto Project

The Euromanifesto Project (EM Project) is one of five components of the European Election Studies (EES). The aim of the project is to collect all party manifestos issued by political parties and the European political groups in the run-up to the European Parliament (EP) elections in all EU member states. The present dataset contains a content analysis of 221 party programs for the 2019 EP elections from 28 countries and the European political groups. Party manifestos were coded by 27 coders from all European Union member states using a hierarchical classification scheme with nine domains divided into different categories and subcategories.<br>Domain 1: External relations
Foreign Special Relationships: FSR general, FSR to Eastern European countries of the EU; FSR to Eastern European countries not in the EU (except Ukraine); FSR to Russia, to USA, to Ukraine, to Syria; anti-imperialism; military: military general, military Ukraine, military Syria; peace: peace general, peace Ukraine, peace Syria; internationalism; Europe, European Community/Union: Europe, European Community/Union: general; financing the EC/EU; EU Exit, Brexit.

Domain 2: Freedom and democracy
Freedom and human rights: freedom, human rights general, human rights refugees, freedom of press; democracy; constitutionalism; populism: anti-elitism, glorification of common people.

Domain 3: Political system (in general)
Decentralization: decentralization general, power to the EC/EU; transfer of power to the EC/EU;
Executive and Administrative Efficiency, political corruption, and political authority.

Domain 4: Political system of the European Union
Competences of the European Parliament; competences of the European Commission; competences of the European Council: competences of the European Council general, voting procedures in the (European) Council; competences of the European Court of Justice; competences of other EC/EU institutions: competences of other EC/EU institutions general, European Central Bank; EC/EU enlargement: EC/EU enlargement general, Eastern Europe, Balkans, membership of Turkey in the EU; complexity of the EC/EU political system; Spitzenkandidaten: Spitzenkandidaten general and specific.

Domain 5: Economic Structure
Free enterprise: free enterprise general; property restitution; controlled Economy: controlled economy general, social ownership, mixed economy, publicly-owned industry, socialist property; economic planning: economic planning general, EC/EU structural fund; nationalization: nationalization general; privatization; market regulation; corporatism; Marxist analysis.

Domain 6: Economic Policies and Goals
Incentives; Keynesian demand management; productivity; technology and infrastructure: technology and infrastructure general, green technology; protectionism; anti-growth economy; economic orthodoxy; economic goals: economic goals general, creating jobs, labour immigration: EU citizens, single market, European Monetary Union/ European currency, European Monetary Union/ European currency-transnational solidarity; labour immigration non-EU citizens, labour immigration unspecified, labour emigration; energy policies.

Domain 7: Welfare and Quality of Life
Environmental protection: environmental protection general, global warming, animal rights, food and alimentation; culture; social justice: social justice general, gender, race/ethnicity; welfare state: welfare state general, pensions, health care and nursing service, social housing, child care, job programs; education.

Domain 8: Fabric of Society
Multiculturalism; traditional morality; law and order: law and order general, fight against terrorism; social harmony; national way of life: national way of life general, immigration (EU citizens), EU integration, Cyprus issue (for Cyprus only), immigration (beyond EU), immigration (unspecified).

Domain 9: Social Groups
Labour groups; agriculture and farmers; middle class and professional groups; underprivileged minority groups (UMG): UMG general, handicapped, homosexuals, EU immigrants, ethnic minorities/diaspora, non-EU immigrants, immigrants unspecified; non-economic demographic groups (NEDG): general, women, old people, young people, linguistic groups.

Additionally coded were: country; region (variable distinguishes parties from Belgium and Great Britain with respect to their respective regional backgrounds); country code plus election year; EMCS party code, MARPOR party code, Chapel Hill party code; year of country´s first elections to the European Parliament; year of country´s first admittance to the European Parliament; election year; initials of the party; name of the party; information on changes in party names; party family; party family according to MARPOR; party family at origin (Euromanifesto Project); percentage of EEP votes at national level; number of seats in the European Parliament; overall number of seats in the European Parliament by country; affiliation to a political group at European level (European party); type of manifesto coded; percentage of votes in the last national parliamentary elections; number of seats in the national parliament; member party of the national government at time of the EP election; National Prime Minister is member of this party; left-right (Coder rating).