Abstract The question of whether there is increasing social integration among EU citizens in Europe as a spill ‑over effect of the ongoing process of system integration, as expected by utilitarian perspectives on integration, has been discussed in many contri‑ butions so far. In particular, the question of how the economic strength and develop‑ ment of macro ‑units affects European social integration has gained new momentum after the 2004 enlargement, when economically weaker ECE countries became part of the EU. In this contribution, I focus on the impact of regional economic strength and development on European social integration. I analyse the relationship between the economic situation and development of NUTS‑1 regions and individual European identity using Eurobarometer data for the years 2004, 2010 and 2015. Using descrip‑ tive and multivariate quantitative approaches, I show that regional economic strength is weakly correlated with European identity, although not significant in multivariate models. However, citizens who believe that the EU is an economic advantage are more likely to identify as Europeans and are more prevalent in regions with higher economic growth. I conclude that convincing citizens of the economic benefits of EU membership could result in increased European social integration in the long run.
AbstractDuring the European debt crisis, there has been a massive political debate between the EU institutions and the governments of crisis countries on the kind of austerity measures these countries have to accept in order to receive financial assistance from rescue funds established by EU and IMF. Based on a Weberian approach regarding solidarity as an act of mutual help, we interpret austerity measures as particular conditions of solidarity Alter has to agree to in order to receive assistance from Ego. In this paper, we ask to what extent citizens of EU countries agree on the notion of conditioned solidarity, and to which extent they are divided by socio-structural or cultural conflict lines, or by country particularities. Using unique data from the 2016 13 country 'Transnational European Solidarity Survey', findings show that the majority of respondents reject the idea of conditionality. Logistic regressions reveal rather weak attitudinal differences between respondents at the individual level, while at the country level respondents from countries with growing unemployment, higher unemployment rates, government debt, and poverty rates are in tendency more likely to reject the measures. We conclude that paying attention to the idea of conditionality is an important aspect of assistance measures in the future, if political actors look to avoid a lack of legitimacy among European citizens.
Introduction : European crises and the existence of European solidarity -- Theoretical framework : conceptualising and understanding European solidarity -- Fiscal solidarity : supporting member states in financial need -- Territorial solidarity : reducing inequality -- Welfare solidarity : supporting Europeans in need -- Refugee solidarity : coping with high numbers of asylum seekers -- Conclusion : in search of Europe's futures.
The paper describes the preliminary findings of a recent research project conducted on Euro-pean solidarity. We surveyed citizens of 13 Members States of the EU about their disposition toward (European) solidarity. An upcoming book will offer an elaborate theoretical framework about the existence of European solidarity. Additionally, this book will also presents detailed results from the project and in-depth discussion of the findings. However, we decided to publish some of the descriptive results beforehand in the form of this report as the major findings of our study have high public and political relevance. The development of recent crises has been rather fast-paced, and is in contrast with the long wait that comes with the publication of aca-demic texts. So, the latter process hinders the most important information to reach the public and policy makers as soon as possible and this report wishes to remedy it slightly.
The paper describes the preliminary findings of a recent research project conducted on Euro-pean solidarity. We surveyed citizens of 13 Members States of the EU about their disposition toward (European) solidarity. An upcoming book will offer an elaborate theoretical framework about the existence of European solidarity. Additionally, this book will also presents detailed results from the project and in-depth discussion of the findings. However, we decided to publish some of the descriptive results beforehand in the form of this report as the major findings of our study have high public and political relevance. The development of recent crises has been rather fast-paced, and is in contrast with the long wait that comes with the publication of aca-demic texts. So, the latter process hinders the most important information to reach the public and policy makers as soon as possible and this report wishes to remedy it slightly.
In recent years, a series of crises have hit the European Union (i.e., the Eurozone crisis, the sovereign debt crises, the Great Recession, the refugee crisis, Brexit). Such precarious times have challenged solidarity both between European citizens, as well as between the Member States of the EU. The current paper investigates the degree of European solidarity in the European Union in the light of these developments. The paper describes the preliminary findings of a recent research project conducted on European solidarity. We surveyed citizens of 13 Members States of the EU about their disposition toward (European) solidarity. An upcoming book will offer an elabo-rate theoretical framework about the existence of European solidarity. Additionally, this book will also presents detailed results from the project and indepth discussion of the findings. However, we decided to publish some of the descriptive results beforehand in the form of this report as the major findings of our study have high public and political relevance. The development of recent crises has been rather fastpaced, and is in contrast with the long wait that comes with the publication of academic texts. So, the latter process hinders the most important information to reach the public and policy makers as soon as possible and this report wishes to remedy it slightly. In Chapter 1, we will elaborate on the conceptual framework of our study. By Euro-pean solidarity, we understand a form of solidarity expanded beyond one's own na-tion state; recipients of solidarity are other EU countries, or citizens living in another EU country. In the first part of Chapter 1, we systematically distinguish between four different domains of European solidarity: (1) Fiscal solidarity, defined as citizens' willingness to support indebted European countries financially. (2) Welfare state solidarity, defined as citizens' strong agreement to support those in need – unemployed, sick, and the elderly – regardless of where they live in the EU, and to reduce inequality ...
In recent years, a series of crises have hit the European Union (i.e., the Eurozone crisis, the sovereign debt crises, the Great Recession, the refugee crisis, Brexit). Such precarious times have challenged solidarity both between European citizens, as well as between the Member States of the EU. The current paper investigates the degree of European solidarity in the European Union in the light of these developments. The paper describes the preliminary findings of a recent research project conducted on European solidarity. We surveyed citizens of 13 Members States of the EU about their disposition toward (European) solidarity. An upcoming book will offer an elaborate theoretical framework about the existence of European solidarity. Additionally, this book will also presents detailed results from the project and indepth discussion of the findings. However, we decided to publish some of the descriptive results beforehand in the form of this report as the major findings of our study have high public and political relevance. The development of recent crises has been rather fastpaced, and is in contrast with the long wait that comes with the publication of academic texts. So, the latter process hinders the most important information to reach the public and policy makers as soon as possible and this report wishes to remedy it slightly. In Chapter 1, we will elaborate on the conceptual framework of our study. By European solidarity, we understand a form of solidarity expanded beyond one's own nation state; recipients of solidarity are other EU countries, or citizens living in another EU country. In the first part of Chapter 1, we systematically distinguish between four different domains of European solidarity: (1) Fiscal solidarity, defined as citizens' willingness to support indebted European countries financially. (2) Welfare state solidarity, defined as citizens' strong agreement to support those in need - unemployed, sick, and the elderly - regardless of where they live in the EU, and to reduce inequality between rich and poor people in Europe. (3) Territorial solidarity, the willingness to reduce inequality between poor and rich EU countries. (4) Finally, the refugee crisis has raised the question of (4.1) external solidarity, defined as the support for the EU to grant asylum to refugees coming from outside of EU, and (4.2) internal solidarity, defined as a strong agreement with how Member States should share the burden of distributing refugees among themselves. In the second part of Chapter 1, we define different criteria for determining the strength of European solidarity. In Chapters 2 to 5, we will apply the explicated criteria for the existence of European solidarity to each of the four domains of solidarity. By doing so, we can determine the strength of European solidarity in each domain of solidarity. As this report aims at giving a first overview of some of our results, we will apply two of the four theoretically developed criteria of European solidarity to the four domains only and present the corresponding descriptive results. Overall, our analyses reveal some unanticipated findings. Europeans altogether display a notably higher level of solidarity with citizens of other EU countries and EU states than many politicians and social scientists have so far presumed. This especially applies to the support of people in need (welfare state solidarity) and the reduction of wealth inequalities between rich and poor European countries (territorial solidarity), but also to the domain of fiscal solidarity. On top of this, European solidarity turns out to be more established than the global one. However, this optimistic view is not valid for the domain of solidarity with refugees. Whilst citizens of western and southern European countries support both, the acceptance of refugees and the fair distribution of the incurring costs and burdens be-tween European countries, the majority of people in eastern European countries do not share this point of view.
English: The Transnational European Solidarity Survey (TESS) is a joint project of the research unit 'Horizontal Europeanization' (responsible partners: Freie Universität Berlin) and the SOLIDUS project (responsible partners: Leipzig University and University of Barcelona). The purpose of the survey is to better understand the attitudes of citizens in thirteen selected countries towards social policy and transnational solidarity in Europe. The survey includes information on European citizens' opinions on welfare state solidarity, fiscal solidarity, solidarity with refugees, scientifically informed solidarity, as well as national and transnational attitudes, values and trust. The fieldwork was conducted by infratest dimap.
Deutsch: Das "Transnational European Solidarity Survey" (TESS) ist ein gemeinsames Projekt der DFG Forscherinnengruppe "Horizontal Europeanization" (verantwortliche Partner: Freie Universität Berlin) und des SOLIDUS-Projekts (verantwortliche Partner: Universität Leipzig und Universität Barcelona). Ziel der Umfrage ist es, die Einstellungen der Bevölkerung in dreizehn ausgewählten Ländern zu den Themen Sozialpolitik und transnationale Solidarität in Europa besser zu verstehen. Die Umfrage liefert Informationen über die Einstellungen der europäischen Bürger zu den Themen wohlfahrtsstaatliche Solidarität, fiskalische Solidarität, Solidarität mit Flüchtlingen, wissenschaftlich fundierte Solidarität sowie zu nationalen und transnationalen Einstellungen, Werten und Vertrauen. Die Feldarbeit wurde von infratest dimap durchgeführt.
