The values and ideas of European integration often have been threatened in previous and current political and economic crises. The ongoing financial crisis, however, has made acute the discussion about transnational spaces for political debate because it has brought about an unprecedented level and intensity of communication and provoked a pressing public debate about the future of the market, the common currency, and the individual and collective costs of European solidarity for both countries and citizens. For scholars and public intellectuals, the political situation seems to offer a vivid example to observe in real time that European integration proceeds together with profound disagreement about its fundamental meaning. This communication also can be seen as a core constituent of a European public sphere. The question remains, however, about whether the public debate in the given circumstances is sufficient to meet the requirements of a true European community of communication that will eventually enhance a common identity.

Against this background, this chapter aims to understand the concepts and meanings of a European public sphere and the factors that are linked with various degrees and levels of transnational communication within and across Europe. We discuss the research on theories and measures of a European public sphere, thereby focusing on the communication flows, their interdiscursivity, and their convergence. Whether the actual communication is sufficient to qualify with respect to the normative requirements of true European democracy is still a contested theme. Since the early studies in the 1990s, scholars have debated how inclusive and convergent European communication within national public spheres must be to constitute a democratic European public sphere (Gerhards 1993, 2002; Wessler et al. 2008). Some researchers concentrate on the Europeanization of communicative flows as instances of transnational communicative interaction (Koopmans and Statham 2010b). Other scholars question whether and under what conditions transnational communication provides a space for an emerging European community of communication and the construction of a European identity (see, e.g., Wessler et al. 2008; Tobler 2010; and, in particular, Risse 2010; Van de Steeg 2010).