Attitudes of the Portuguese Elites towards the European Union

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present and discuss the data for Portugal of the IntUne survey on elite attitudes towards European integration. Despite some differences between the Portuguese and the European results of the survey, we find that the concept of 'compound citizenship' (M. Cotta, 'A "compound" model of citizenship? European citizenship in the eyes of national elites', Lisbon IntUne General Assembly, 27–30 November 2008) may be applied to the perceptions of Portuguese elites regarding the European Union, and the postulated combination of an indirect European citizenship with a direct one is also verifiable in Portugal. We hypothesise that this European 'compound citizenship' is not conflictive with national citizenship, possessing instead elements for strengthening the linkage between them.