Do citizens support EU cohesion policy? Measuring European support for redistribution within the EU and its correlates ; ¿Apoyan los ciudadanos la política de cohesión de la UE? Medida del apoyo europeo a la redistribución dentro de la UE

Abstract

As the European Union enters into the next decade, its leaders seemingly strive towards more future integration rather than less, despite the recent setback of Brexit and the rise of anti-EU populist parties. In his state of the Union in 2018, Jean Claude Junker emphasized s 'European solidarity'. One key policy 'expression of solidary' would be Cohesion Policy and the Structural Funds, which are "the only real, significant redistributive mechanism in the EU…" (Fratesi 2017). . Despite elite commentary, we know surprisingly little about what EU citizens think of the rationale behind the policy of Cohesion – e.g. economic redistribution within the EU. As part of the PERCEIVE Horizon2020 project, we launched a unique survey to investigate how citizens feel about economic integration within the Union, where 17,200 citizens were interviewed. In this paper, we show how we measure support for the policy, the results as well as a host of correlates. Our analysis shows the variation in citizens' support for EU Cohesion policy between countries, how support varies between demographic groups, as well as the extent to which support is correlated with utilitarian and ideational factors as well as cue taking. Implications for future developments of this policy are discussed. ; A medida que la Unión Europea ingresa en la próxima década, sus líderes aparentemente luchan por más integración futura en lugar de menos, a pesar del reciente revés del Brexit y el surgimiento de los partidos populistas anti-UE. En su estado de la Unión en 2018, Jean Claude Junker hizo hincapié en la "solidaridad europea". Una política clave de "expresión de solidaridad" sería la Política de Cohesión y los Fondos Estructurales, que son "el único mecanismo redistributivo real y significativo en la UE." (Fratesi 2017). A pesar de las opiniones de la élite, sorprendentemente sabemos poco sobre lo que piensan los ciudadanos de la UE sobre la lógica detrás de la Política de Cohesión, de la redistribución económica dentro de la UE. Como parte del proyecto ...