The narrative struggle for the signification of “Europe” in the context of the TTIP negotiations: the European Aegis narrative vs transnational populism

European Union studies are undergoing a narrative turn (Bouza Garcia, 2017). Academic debate is starting to consider both the importance of socio-cultural representations of Europeanness for understanding citizens’ and civil society attitudes towards the EU and the usage of narrative strategies by EU political actors. In order to contribute to analysing how “Europe” is narrated in the current politicised environment, we analyse the competition to define and frame “Europe” in the context of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) project, focussing on the competing narrative strategies of the European Commission and the Stop TTIP coalition. We analyse the narratives put forward in strategic documents of both actors, conceiving the two opposing narratives as the opposition between “European Aegis” and “transnational populism”. We will also present in-depth elite interviews with Brussels-based political actors to analyse the articulation of those narratives.