DEFENDING COMMUNICATIVE SPACES The Remits and Limits of the European Parliament Katharine Sarikakis Abstract / The role of the European Parliament in the formation of media and cultural policies is a largely underresearched area, despite the implications of the institution’s active involvement in supranational decision-making regimes for emancipatory politics in Europe. Through a historical overview, this article argues that the EP has successfully defended existing communicative spaces and promoted the creation of new ones. In its efforts to defend European communications and culture from processes of cultural domination, however, it has failed to acknowledge dominations within the EU. The article positions the institution within a supranational arrangement of economic and political power and identifies the structural constraints and resistance space for public interest centred politics. Keywords / broadcasting / civil society / communications policy / communicative space / cultural imperialism / European Parliament / globalization / media pluralism Introduction With the internationalization of communications policy, the role of international and supranational institutions in the process of decision-making has attracted the attention of academic research but also of actors of the civil society. Sur- prisingly perhaps, the European Parliament (EP), given its special position as a unique institution of representational politics at an international level, has not been given the same degree of attention. There is a profound lack of studies of the role, potential and dynamics of EP politics in issues of communications policy, whether these are related to media, telecommunications or broader cultural policies. This article examines the role of the EP in the historical development of media policies in the European Union. The study of the institution provides information about aspects of the internal EU policy-making processes, and therefore helps us understand the workings of the polity. Most importantly, however, it provides an insight into a unique case of supranational represen- tation that gains significance in its potential for dialogue with international social movements and social change. As a first-ever experiment in supranational representation, it provides the only source of historical data that can reveal the conditions under which emancipatory politics can be pursued at a governance GAZETTE: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR COMMUNICATION STUDIES COPYRIGHT © 2005 SAGE PUBLICATIONS LONDON, THOUSAND OAKS & NEW DELHI 0016-5492 VOL 67(2): 155–172 DOI: 10.1177/0016549205050129 www.sagepublications.com