Article published In: Argumentation in European Politics
Edited by Corina Andone and Bart Garssen
[Journal of Argumentation in Context 11:1] 2022
► pp. 47–68
The argumentative style of the opening speech of a debate in the European Parliament
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.
Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Amsterdam.
Published online: 8 March 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/jaic.21026.gar
https://doi.org/10.1075/jaic.21026.gar
Abstract
In this contribution a characterization is given of the argumentative style utilised in an opening speech of a plenary debate in the European Parliament. This debate is initiated through an opening speech in which the rapporteur of a parliamentary committee presents the European Commission’s proposal, as well as the amendments and the arguments to support them. As it is the rapporteur’s aim to gain broad parliamentary agreement with the proposal, the opening speech is vital to the debate, because all contributions of the MEPs relate directly to the argumentation put forward by the rapporteur. Based on the analytic overview the strategic design and the three dimensions of argumentative style the argumentative style that is used by the rapporteur is characterized.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Legislative debates in the European parliament
- 3.The opening speech of the debate about the European food supply chain
- 4.Analysis of the argumentative discourse in the opening speech
- 4.1The analytically relevant moves
- a.The difference of opinion
- b.The point of departure
- c.The argumentation structure
- d.The outcome
- 4.2The strategic considerations
- 4.1The analytically relevant moves
- 5.The argumentative style of the rapporteur’s opening speech
- 5.1Characteristics of the confrontational argumentative style
- Topical selection
- Audience demand
- Exploitation of presentational devices
- 5.2Characteristics of the opening argumentative style
- Topical selection
- Audience demand
- Exploitation of presentational devices
- 5.3Characteristics of the argumentational argumentative style
- Topical selection
- Audience demand
- Exploitation of presentational devices
- 5.4Characteristics of the concluding argumentative style
- Topical selection
- Audience demand and exploitation of presentational devices
- 5.1Characteristics of the confrontational argumentative style
- 6.Conclusion
- Notes
References
References (5)
Eemeren, F. H. (2021). Examining argumentative style. A new theoretical perspective. Journal of Argumentation in Context
10
(1), 8–25.
Garssen, B. (2017a). Argumentative patterns with argumentation by example in legislative debate in the European Parliament. In F. H. van Eemeren (Ed.), Prototypical argumentative patterns. Exploring the relationship between argumentative discourse and institutional context (pp. 109–124). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Argumentation in context 11.
(2017b). The role of pragmatic problem-solving argumentation in plenary debate in the European Parliament. In F. H. van Eemeren (Ed.), Prototypical argumentative patterns. Exploring the relationship between argumentative discourse and institutional context (pp. 31–52). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Argumentation in Context 11.
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Хоменко, Ірина
[no author supplied]
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
