This study examines the mobilization of citizens for the European project in times of a crisis of values. We focus on the changes in attitudes that underlie the feeling of engagement among citizens of various EU member countries since the start of the military conflict in 2022 at the eastern border of the European Union, the largest and most brutal in the heart of the European continent since the Second World War. This crisis, which revealed the fragility of the international and European security order, is marked in many EU countries by a rise in populism and extremist positions, and the dissemination of propaganda, particularly in Central and Eastern European countries. We observe, compare, and analyze the political discourse as it is conveyed, reflected, and filtered by the media during electoral campaigns leading to the parliamentary elections in two countries, namely France and Slovakia. Politicians at the national level play a crucial role in involving European citizens in European and global issues. Our paper focuses on the legislative elections which took place in France (a founding and supporting country of the EU) in June 2022 and in Slovakia (a country of the former communist bloc) in September 2023. In the case of the latter country, we also present an analysis of the media discourse using the Sketch Engine software. Our analytical work is focused on the textual data collected in the Slovak national media, specifically in the electronic editions of the daily newspapers SME and Hlavný denník, during the last four weeks of the electoral campaign.