Support For European Integration Research Articles

Enforcement and public opinion: the perceived legitimacy of rule of law sanctions

ABSTRACT The EU has powerful enforcement mechanisms to curb democratic backsliding and support the rule of law in its member states. While (the threat of) enforcement is necessary, sanctions might be difficult to accept as legitimate when they hurt a citizen's country. We study the perceived legitimacy of EU enforcement actions. We develop hypotheses about the influence of national identity, party support, procedural fairness, descriptive norm prevalence, and the likely effects of the sanctions on the future of cooperation. These hypotheses are tested with a survey experiment administered to a nationally-representative sample in Poland. The focus is on the substantial financial sanctions imposed by the EU concerning judicial independence. The results show that exclusive national identity, the perceived importance of the rule of law, support for European integration and party support are strongly associated with perceived legitimacy. Providing information about the prevalence of public support for judicial independence in the country increases significantly the perceived legitimacy of enforcement actions. We find no evidence for effects of arguments about Polexit, future deterrence effects of the sanctions or their procedural (un)fairness. EU sanctions might not lead to further backlash among the domestic public, but they are unlikely to generate public pressure for reforms.

Basic Human Values and Preferences for an EU‐Wide Social Benefit Scheme

AbstractPrevious explanations regarding transnational solidarity in the European Union (EU) have mainly focussed on factors including left–right self‐placement, support for European integration and European identity. We expand this model by considering deeper psychological determinants of transnational solidarity: values, operationalised as Schwartz's basic human values of universalism and security. We expect them to exert (1) direct effects on transnational solidarity – measured as support for pan‐European social benefits – and (2) indirect effects via the three aforementioned factors. We test and find evidence to support our theoretical framework using multigroup structural equation modelling and data from the European Social Survey. We further show that the effect size of the value of universalism on preferences for an EU social benefit scheme in each country is positively moderated by that country's net contribution to the EU budget, highlighting the interaction between material interests and psychological value motivations.

What guides citizen support for redistributive EU measures as a response to COVID-19: Justice attitudes, self-interest or support for European integration?

In 2020/2021, the EU and its member states had to tackle the largest shock of the twenty-first century yet, the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 led to an unprecedented health and economic crisis. In this article, we analyse public opinion on redistributive EU measures based on an original survey in Austria, Germany and Italy and ask whether EU citizens support a common aid package, common debt and redistribution to those countries that are economically most in need. Testing the influence of three explanatory concepts – self-interest, justice attitudes and general support of European integration – we find that all three explanatory concepts have predictive power. However, we find stronger effects on support for EU-level redistribution for citizens’ instrumental calculations concerning whether their country benefits from EU aid, and on general support for EU integration, than for justice attitudes.

Geopolitical election of the Republic of Moldova. a study based on the example of the early parliamentary elections (2021)

For a long time, the key topic in the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova is the geopolitical choice between West and East, integration with the European Union or with the Russian Federation. This is reflected in the confrontation between political parties, the split of political elites and Moldovan society along geopolitical lines. Furthemore this problem had an outlet not only to the foreign policy of Moldova, but also reflected in the domestic policy of the country. Representatives of the state-forming ethnic group - Moldovans - were more often supporters of European integration, while representatives of ethnic minorities more often identified themselves with an orientation towards Russia. The purpose of this article is to analyze the geopolitical choice of the Republic of Moldova using the example of the early parliamentary elections on July 11, 2021. Taking into account the specifics of the elections, the study is focused on reflecting the problem of geopolitical choice in the electoral platforms of Moldovan electoral competitors. Based on the results of early parliamentary elections and sociological polls, the authors analyze the attitude of the Moldovan population to various geopolitical projects - integration with the European Union or the Eurasian Economic Union. The study showed that in the parliamentary (2021) elections in the Republic of Moldova, the problem of geopolitical choice was not a dominant topic. The idea of combating corruption, reforming justice, which was promoted by the winning Action and Solidarity Party and the President of the Republic of Moldova M. Sandu, became the main idea that determined the victory in the elections and united various ethnic groups. Moldovan public opinion indicates an increase in the number of supporters of integration into the European Union and, accordingly, a decrease in interest in the Customs Union, a Russian geopolitical project.

Swinging Leftward: Public Opinion on Economic and Political Integration in Latin America, 1997–2010

Coinciding with the shift to the left in Latin American politics, regional integration in Latin America accelerated during the last two decades. Yet, whereas support for European integration has been tracked systematically for decades, trend analyses of public opinion on Latin American integration are still missing. Combining data from eight Latinobarometer surveys on 106,590 respondents from seventeen South and Central American countries, this article provides the first longitudinal analysis of Latin Americans’ support for their continent’s economic and political integration. Using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression, we reveal intra- and intersocietal trends and cleavages. Our results show that support rates are generally declining from high initial levels. Furthermore, while gender and educational gaps in public opinion remained stable over time, considerable shifts occurred with regard to political orientation: starting from the lowest initial values, the left surpassed the right—and, at least in the case of support for political integration, also the center—to become the political wing favoring integration most highly. This finding shows, contrary to prevailing ideas, that the political center is not necessarily the primary supporter of integration. When regionalism is increasingly driven by left-wing governments, public support for regional integration may also swing to the left.

Catholicism and the Support for European Integration: A Critique of the Methodological Underpinnings

It has long been argued that a special relationship between Catholicism and European integration exists. Yet, the scholarly discussion of its meaning has seldom gone beyond statistical analyses that show robust correlations, but cannot provide an understanding of why and when Catholics tend to choose commitment to European Union over skepticism or indifference to it. Three philosophical arguments are presented in the paper which indicate the flaws of positivist research and show how an interpretivist approach could shed light on the topic studied.

The Role of the European Socialists in the EU Political System

The article explores the formation of a single European socio-political space and the evolution of the institution of pan-European political parties (Europarties). It is shown that the growth of practical and scientific interest to the European parties was associated with the gradual strengthening of the role and influence of this relatively new institution in the political system of the EU. The authors identified new trends in the development of the institute of European parties. On the one hand, the confrontation between the supporters of European integration (Eurooptimists) and their opponents (Eurosceptics) has intensified. On the other hand, the format of relations between individual European parties (in particular, the Party of European Socialists, which traditionally supports the expansion of ties between governments and society) with European civil society and key political institutions of the EU (the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament) is gradually changing. Based on the analysis of materials related to the activities of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in the last two years, it is shown that this party has managed to create specific tools and mechanisms to strengthen its ties with civil activists (the so-called PES networks on various issues), national member parties, to involve representatives of this party in its work in the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament.

Correlational linkage analysis (Frequently Applied Designs)

Correlational linkage analysis (Frequently Applied Designs)

To leave or not to leave? Understanding the support for the United Kingdom membership in the European Union: Identity, attitudes towards the political system and socio-economic status

This article proposes a decision model of the British support for leaving the European Union (EU) that includes both identity aspirations, attitudes towards the political system and economic interest and test it on the Understanding Society 6th, 7th and 8th surveys. Current studies tend to interpret the British Euroscepticism as a combination of attachment to British identity, lack of economic opportunities and dissatisfaction with the political class. Using this approach where factors are additive, it is not possible to account for the substantial portion of socio-economically advantaged individuals which prefer to leave the EU, and for those who, despite their low attachment to their British identity, the relatively high educational level and satisfaction with domestic democracy, prefer to leave the EU. I use a theoretical approach which considers both economic and cultural considerations as rational considerations and conceptualise their interaction in terms of trade off. I use classification tree analysis to evaluate the relative importance of the main explanatory factors and of their interaction. The results show that the negative evaluation of the political system makes certain groups, which otherwise tend to support European integration, lean towards Euroscepticism. It helps to explain the Euroscepticism of those who are less attached to their British identity and of advantaged classes. The results have also showed that anti-establishment attitudes are not associated with disadvantaged socio-economic groups. The dissatisfaction with domestic democracy is relevant mostly for the advantaged classes, and the lack of political efficacy affects equally the attitudes of advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Last, disadvantaged groups’ support for European integration is driven by identity aspirations not by economic interest.

Did Decentralisation Affect Citizens’ Perception of the European Union? The Impact during the Height of Decentralisation in Europe

The aim of this paper is to assess the extent to which different levels of decentralisation across regions of the European Union (EU) affected citizens’ perceptions about European integration over the period 1973–2002. The paper uses Eurobarometer Surveys to explore by means of multinomial logistic regressions whether decentralisation was an important factor behind the varying perceptions about Europe. Two dimensions of decentralization—political and fiscal—are considered in the analysis, alongside several compositional and contextual effects. The results of the analysis show that fiscal decentralisation was fundamental for citizens’ support for European integration, while there is limited evidence that political decentralisation played a similar role. Hence, while fiscal decentralisation may have given prominence to the economic benefits of European integration, political decentralisation was more associated with its economic costs. Taking into account that history matters, this paper raises potentially interesting insights for the design of policies aimed at promoting social cohesion.

Does education decrease Euroscepticism? A regression discontinuity design using compulsory schooling reforms in four European countries

Previous research shows a strong and consistent relationship between educational attainment and Euroscepticism. As a result, education is considered to be a powerful predictor of attitudes towards European integration. However, these findings are predominantly found using cross-sectional research designs, therefore leaving open the possibility of strong selection effects due to pre-adult experiences and dispositions which both explain educational attainment and political attitudes. To test whether schooling causally reduces Euroscepticism, this article combines data on the compulsory schooling age with seven rounds of pooled European Social Survey data (2002–2014). Using compulsory schooling reforms within a ‘fuzzy’ regression discontinuity design, the results indicate no conclusive effect of education on Euroscepticism, questioning the impact of additional schooling. Consequently, this study provides a novel insight into the much-debated divide in support for European integration between lower and higher educated.

Euroscepticism and Protestant Heritage: The Role of Religion on EU Issue Voting

AbstractThis paper focuses on the historical ties between Protestantism and the nation-state, as well as between Catholicism and supranationalism, to widen the political science debate on different conditions of EU issue voting. Research suggests that the political context in each nation-state shapes the extent to which individual Eurosceptic attitudes influence the decision to vote for Eurosceptic parties. In addition to this, I expect that a nations' religious background responds differently to this relationship. Using data from the 2014 European Parliament elections, I show that citizens from predominantly Protestant countries actually decide for Eurosceptic parties if they hold negative attitudes towards European integration. In contrast, citizens from predominantly Catholic countries may or may not vote for Eurosceptic parties, but their voting decision is not based on individual EU attitudes such as support for European integration, trust in EU institutions or European identity.

Ideology in Times of Crisis a Principal Component Analysis of Votes in the European Parliament, 2004–2019

This paper aims to identify the main dividing lines that determine the voting behaviour of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and how they evolved throughout the crisis. Introducing a new database that collects and classifies the full population of plenary votes from 2004 to 2019, this work uses principal component analysis to identify the latent patterns on which MEPs ally and divide. Focussing on economic votes, it finds that, while pre-crisis votes were mainly determined by differences across the left-vs-right spectrum and, only secondly, by differences in support for European integration, the crisis inverted this trend, making support for Europe the most relevant dividing line in the European Parliament. In support of this evidence, the paper introduces a new vote-scraping technique to investigate the ideological nature of these dimensions. Vote scraping reveals that the left-right cleavage is mainly ideological but with limited impact on budgetary resources, whereas the European dimension mostly reflects a conflict over the budget, with higher legislative impact and seemingly low ideological content.

Europe’s Bank and Europe’s Citizens: Accountability, transparency – legitimacy?

Since the Eurozone crisis, critique of the European Central Bank (ECB) has centred on the Bank’s lack of acceptance by Europe’s citizens. One prominent strand of the debate argues that such acceptance can be enhanced by ensuring higher levels of compliance with the democratic standards of accountability and transparency. This article critically assesses this ‘standards-support nexus’ and its underlying assumptions. We suggest that three conditions need to be fulfilled for the argument to hold: (i) citizens are aware of the ECB and its design; (ii) citizens prioritise democratic standards over alternative motivations for acceptance; and (iii) citizens are able to differentiate between the ECB and the European Union’s wider multilevel system. Drawing from the established literature on support for European integration and trust in the ECB and from descriptive Eurobarometer data, we conclude that these three conditions are unlikely to bear out empirically. Moreover, increasing the ECB’s accountability and transparency in times of crisis and heightened politicisation could adversely affect the Bank’s policy-performance and public image. Hence, whilst not questioning the normative desirability of accountability and transparency, we caution against assuming too easily that such democratic standards alone will enhance citizen support, and against assuming that they come without trade-offs.

Public perceptions of the European power hierarchy and support for a single European security and defense policy

Many studies focus on overall support for European integration while less work has been done on explaining public opinion on specific policy areas, such as security and defense policy. We hypothesize that the probability of supporting a single European security and defense policy increases with greater levels of trust in the European Union member states, most notably the more powerful members such as Germany. This variable is critical since integration’s development is influenced strongly by, and dependent on, the resources of the relatively more powerful European member states. Regression analyses using pooled repeated cross-sectional data from the Eurobarometer surveys conducted from 1992 to 1997 among individuals of 11 member states largely support these preliminary claims.

Ideology in Times of Crisis: A Principal Component Analysis of Votes in the European Parliament, 2004–2019

This paper aims to identify the main dividing lines that determine the voting behaviour of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and their evolution throughout the crisis. Introducing a new database that collects and classifies the full population of plenary votes from 2004 to 2019, this work uses principal component analysis to identify the latent patterns on which MEPs ally and divide. Focussing on economic votes, it finds that, while pre-crisis votes were mainly determined by differences across the left-vs-right spectrum and, only secondly, by differences in support for European integration, the crisis inverted this trend, making support for Europe the most relevant dividing line in the European Parliament. In support of this evidence, the paper introduces a new vote-scraping technique to investigate the ideological nature of these dimensions. Vote scraping reveals that the left-right cleavage is mainly ideological but with limited impact on budgetary resources, whereas the European dimension mostly reflects a conflict over the budget, with higher legislative impact and seemingly low ideological content.

Chapter 8 – Media reporting of migrants and migration

Chapter 8 – Media reporting of migrants and migration

INTER-CONFESSIONAL RELATIONS IN UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITY: CHURCH-RELIGIOUS AND PUBLIC-POLITICAL ASPECTS

The article deals with inter-confessional relations during the period of Ukraine's independence in the context of international activity, namely the relevant church-religious and state-political aspects. It is determined that in the historiography the outlined issues have not yet been the subject of a separate study. International activity is one of the areas of activity of churches and religious organizations in Ukraine; it is also implemented within the framework of inter-confessional relations. The most constructive inter-confessional dialogue in the context of international activity is being implemented by the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations. Both church-religious organizations and inter-confessional associations support their own and state-political international initiatives. Religious international initiatives are manifested through the support of relations with foreign church-religious structures, the organization of the participation of clergy in foreign thematic events, meetings of foreign religious and clergy, political and state figures, delegations from other countries. The controversial attitude of various religious denominations, which has come to the international level, is observed with regard to the creation of the Single Local Orthodox Ukrainian Church. An important direction in the inter-confessional dialogue in the international context was the support for European integration of Ukraine and the confrontation with Russian military aggression in Ukraine. In general, the church and religious organizations did not oppose European integration, and in some cases openly supported it. Church-religious organizations have been actively involved in Ukraine's activities aimed at engaging international support of Ukraine in confronting Russian military aggression. Significant successes of the religious community should be noted, specifically, in promoting the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war and hostages, providing humanitarian assistance to victims, condemning the harassment of freedom of conscience and the activities of religious organizations on the occupied territories, etc.

Does EU regional policy increase parties’ support for European integration?

How does EU funding to European regions affect sub-national parties’ support for European integration? This paper aims at analysing whether the EU regional development policy contributes to setting up support for EU institutions and European integration and thus strengthens the whole ‘European idea’ among political parties. To answer this research question, the article analyses election manifestos of parties acting on the regional level in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK for two EU programming periods: 2007─2013 and 2014─2020. The results show that sub-national parties are more supportive of European integration if regions receive more EU funding and if the parties represent regions that are dependent on EU funding.

The impact of EU decision-making on national parties’ attitudes towards European integration

This study examines the implications of EU decision-making for national parties’ support for European integration. We argue, first, that EU decision-making promotes the support of parties that were closely located to EU outcomes. Second, we expect higher support of parties with governmental experience due to their access to key offices in EU decision-making. For the period from 1979 to 2012, we measure and interact both variables with the political, parliamentary and decentralizing nature of EU acts. In addition to the expected effects of outcome distance and government participation, we find that non-bureaucratic legislation generally improves national parties’ attitudes towards European integration. The involvement of the European Parliament increases the support of more distant parties, but discourages parties with high governmental experience. Finally, peripherally located (government) parties appreciate the decentral discretion of directives.