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Euroscepticism in Times of European Crises: The Role of Solidarity

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Anti-Europeanism

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Abstract

During the recent decade, European solidarity has been on everyone’s lips. However, to date, no study has captured the multiple facets of European solidarity and its effect on EU critical attitudes in times of the European financial and migrant crises. To fill the above-mentioned research gap, this chapter differentiates between the support for value-based European solidarity and transnational solidarity actions. I tested this using Eurobarometer waves ascertained from 2009 to 2015. The results show that solidarity does indeed affect attitudinal Euroscepticism. However, solidarity as a value has a more volatile effect on EU critical sentiments compared to the endorsement of solidarity actions. European citizens more likely oppose European integration once it comes along with cross-country burden sharing.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I would like to ask you a question about how much trust you have in certain institutions. For each of the following institutions, please tell me if you tend to trust it or tend not to trust it. 4: The European Union. 1-Tend to trust, 2-tend not to trust, 3-dk.

  2. 2.

    In general, does the European Union conjure up for you a very positive, fairly positive, neutral, fairly negative or very negative image? 1-Very positive, 2-Fairly positive, 3-Neutral, 4-Fairly negative, 5-Very negative, 6-dk.

  3. 3.

    Generally speaking, do you think that (OUR COUNTRY)’s membership of the European Union is…? 1-A good thing, 2-A bad thing, 3-Neither good nor bad, 4-dk.

  4. 4.

    Taking everything into account, would you say that (OUR COUNTRY) has on balance benefited or not from being a member of the European Union? 1-Benefited, 2-Not benefited, 3-dk.

  5. 5.

    Which three of the following values best represent the EU? 8-Solidarity, support for others.

  6. 6.

    In your opinion, which of the following values should the European Parliament defend as a matter of priority? 4-Solidarity between EU member states.

  7. 7.

    The introduction of Eurobonds (European bonds). 1-strongly in favour, 2-fairly in favour, 3-fairly opposed, 4-strongly opposed, 5-dk.

  8. 8.

    The distribution of asylum seekers should be decided at EU level on the basis of binding quotas. 1-totally agree, 2-tend to agree, 3-tend to disagree 4-totally disagree, 5-dk.

  9. 9.

    The EU has recently decided to allocate financial support as a matter of priority to the member states currently facing the most migratory flows on their coasts and borders. Do you think it is…? 1-A good thing, 2-A bad thing, 3-Neither good nor bad, 4-dk.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Cologne, Germany

    Ann-Kathrin Reinl

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  1. Ann-Kathrin Reinl
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Correspondence to Ann-Kathrin Reinl .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The European College of Parma Foundation, Parma, Italy

    Marco Baldassari

  2. Department of Law, Politics and International Studies, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

    Emanuele Castelli

  3. Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Industries, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

    Matteo Truffelli

  4. Center for Studies in European and International Affairs, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

    Giovanni Vezzani

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Reinl, AK. (2020). Euroscepticism in Times of European Crises: The Role of Solidarity. In: Baldassari, M., Castelli, E., Truffelli, M., Vezzani, G. (eds) Anti-Europeanism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24428-6_6

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