European Union Politics

Publisher:: Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:: 2021-09-06

ISBN:: 1465-1165

Issue Number

Latest documents

Introducing the PFxEU tracker dataset: Tracking political financing in the European Union
A rich literature examines the links between politics, money and corruption across the globe. Somewhat surprisingly, this topic has not found much attention in European Union studies. This article presents the PFxEU tracker, an open-access dataset that tracks the financial donations received by European Union political parties. It systematically codes (a) each donation received; (b) its amount; (c) the type of donor; and (d) its region of origin. Analysing the dataset, a cleavage can be observed. On one side are parties that have Eurosceptic and nationalist agendas and individual donors. On the opposite side are federalist agendas and international-business donors. Moreover, individuals form the largest donor category, and nearly half of all donations come from Central and Eastern Europe. PFxEU aims to encourage further research into European Union political financing, supports research collaboration devoted to the analysis of corruption and European Union politics and makes basic political information part of the public domain.
The responsive public: How European Union decisions shape public opinion on salient policies
This study argues that the adoption of a policy by the European Union increases popular support for that policy. Elite cue theory implies that this effect only materializes among those members of the public who trust European Union institutions. Moreover, European Union member states’ unanimous policy support conveys a stronger cue than the Union’s policy endorsement despite vocal dissent. The argument is tested through original survey experiments and the quasi-experimental analysis of a survey that was fielded while the European Council endorsed a salient policy proposal. Support of the policy surged immediately after this decision—but only among Europeans who trust the Union. Experiments in original national surveys confirm that citizens who trust the European Union respond to signals from Brussels. Unanimity in the Council of the European Union augments the impact of these cues.
The nuclear option: Voting for the pan-European party Volt
Volt is a pan-European, Eurofederalist party that seeks to deepen and democratize European Union integration. It participated in elections in nine European countries and won representation in the Dutch Parliament and German constituency for the European Parliament. We examine Volt Netherlands, which studies the possibilities of a pan-European party. We look at the importance of its pro-European positions for voting for this party; this is an issue that all national branches of Volt share. We also examine the specific political opportunity structure of the Netherlands, where pro-nuclear environmentalism was an open niche. In this way, we weigh the importance of the party's pan-European appeal and the country-specific political opportunity structure. We show the importance of the country-specific factors for new party support and thus cast doubt on the ability of pan-European parties to mobilize voters all over Europe with the same message.
What difference does the framing of a crisis make to European Union solidarity?
Does the framing of crises shape public support for inter-state solidarity? We focus on three dimensions that have been salient in the characterisation of European Union crises and may affect public support for solidarity more generally: (a) how country-specific or common a crisis is; (b) whether policymakers are seen as responsible for the crisis or not; and (c) how existential or manageable the threat posed by a crisis appears. We employ a pre-registered factorial vignette experiment conducted in 15 European Union countries to assess how characterising a hypothetical crisis affects voter support for fiscal and financial solidarity. Our results show that exposure to different crises frames shapes public support for risk-sharing in the European Union. Changes in solidaristic attitudes vary significantly with the means of fiscal risk-sharing proposed.
The politicization of European integration and support for restrictive migration policies
Why do individuals in Central and Eastern Europe support parties and candidates that hold restrictive positions on migration? I argue that the mobilization of public opinion against the European integration of external migration management is a cause. To test, I employ an experiment in Slovakia that combines a between-subjects experiment with a candidate-choice conjoint. Results indicate strong support for restrictive migration policies generally and that ideology moderates reactions to messages about European Union influence. In response to these messages, liberals shift toward restrictive policy preferences; conservatives do not. These differential effects suggest that messages about European Union influence run up against ceiling effects, where entrenched anti-migration preferences prevent attitudinal change. This paper identifies the limited set of conditions under which the mobilization of public opinion against European integration influences attitudes and electoral preferences.
European by action: How voting reshapes nested identities
Although research has questioned the stability of identities, we know little about identity change. I examine a political event as a driver of identity change, namely the Brexit vote. I contend that the act of voting, choosing between two options, boosts the European and British identity underlying the vote choice. I test whether the increased identification with Europe or Britain comes with a reduction in the other identity. Using British Election Study panel data in a two-way fixed-effects design, I show that voting to remain increases identification with Europe but voting to leave does not increase British identification for Leavers. However, voting has no impact on how Remainers identify with Britain or Leavers identify with Europe. The results contribute to the growing literature on the link between politics and identities.
External perceptions of the European Union in Israel—the role of norms and culture
This article examines the role of norms and culture in perceptions of the European Union. Conceptually, it offers a distinction between the image of the European Union as a normative actor and attitudes toward one's country's relations with the European Union. It also explores whether the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), a cultural event which symbolizes the cultural understanding of contemporary Europe, is related to perceptions of the European Union. Empirically, it uses a public opinion survey (n = 1050) following Israel's hosting of the ESC in 2019. The findings indicate that Israelis distinguish between the image of the European Union as an entity with positive features and their attitudes toward Israel's connections with the European Union.
Mass Euroscepticism revisited: The role of distributive justice
Empathy, geography and immigration: Political framing of sea migrant arrivals in European media
How is European media framing sensitive to events such as refugee border crossing and irregular migrants’ arrivals? While news outlets adjust the tone around immigration following ideology, do the contextual characteristics of these incidents matter? This article explores two factors that could explain the varying framing of these highly political events in European mainstream media. One explanation focuses on the role of migrants’ conditions, such as migrants’ way of transit and subsequent human sufferance (or lack thereof). Another emphasizes the role of geography, in particular the location of migrants’ territorial identification relative to the receiving communities. Focusing on the case of sea migration and small boat arrivals in Southern Europe, I argue that the emotional triggers determined by migrants’ transit and their geographical point of detection systematically moderate each other, and jointly affect how the media describe these cross-border immigration events. Empirically, the article presents original newspaper data from Greece, Italy and Spain that collates geospatial information on immigrants’ sea transit and the related number of injuries and deaths during transit. Statistical results indicate that media framing is more sympathetic to events involving suffering migrants, but that this positive framing diminishes if migrants are located only at the border of the national territory and disappears if the migrants are identified in more distant, foreign waters. The results suggest nuanced conditions in which migration can be presented by the media aside from their ideological lenses.
The use of identity-related frames in electoral pledges and its effects on Euroscepticism in France and Germany
National identification strength is a key Euroscepticism driver. We examine how politicians’ framing of immigration policies increases the salience of different national identity representations and its relationship with support for the European Union (EU) in a two-waves between-subject survey-experiment using French and German samples. As predicted, exposure to assimilation frames (directly for the French sample or via frame perception for both samples) increased the salience of ethnocultural national identity representations. Additionally, as hypothesised, higher ethnocultural representations salience following assimilation frames exposure was related to higher Euroscepticism. However, feeling emotionally attached to the EU reduced this negative impact of ethnocultural national identity representations on EU attitudes. We discuss the role of ethnocultural nationalism in Euroscepticism and the importance of fostering stronger emotional ties to the EU.