What do Europeans think are the most important issues facing Europe today? How much of a voice do citizens feel they have in the European Union? How secure do they feel about climate change, terrorism or employment opportunities? Should EU countries offer financial help to their neighbours, if they are faced with high unemployment, a large debt burden, or refugees to house?
In 2018, The State of the Union partnered with YouGov to discover what Europeans think about Solidarity in Europe. YouGov polled European citizens in 11 countries: Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Italy, Poland, Lithuania and Greece, to find out what Europeans think.
Professors Philipp Genschel, Joint Professor of European Public Policy (EUI) and Anton Hemerijck, Professor of Political Science and Sociology (EUI), have analysed the results. They conclude that the survey reveals three main findings:
- Public support for European solidarity varies by issue (solidarity for what?), by instrument (solidarity how?) and by member state (solidarity by whom for whom?)
- Variance in support offers opportunities for leveraging European solidarity by linking different issues and instruments
- European publics are often uncertain in their attitudes towards European solidarity. This opens space for political leadership on European solidarity by issue- and instrument-linkage. Voters, who in large majority wish to stay in the EU, should be ready to listen.
Now that data is available for everyone to discover through the interfaces below. To change question, simply click the top bar with the question name and choose any question in the list (they are grouped by theme). You can choose the cross-breaks by scrolling to the very bottom of the “By” item in the menu.
Search by country
You can access data for the 11 countries on the following links: