Abstract

The central question of this article is how to deal (both theoretically and empirically) with the notion of the public sphere with reference to the EU. First the literature on the European public sphere is examined in order to disentangle various assumptions underlying the definition of the concept. Then, the concept of the public sphere is opened up by focusing on `public discourse' instead. Following from this change in perspective, a different model is sketched that can be used to make sense of the public debate held in European media. Finally, the proposed approach is illustrated by applying it to the discourse developed on the issue of the EU enlargement in four weekly magazines, namely Cambio 16 (Spanish), Elsevier (Dutch), the New Statesman (British), and der Spiegel (German).