This paper analyses preferences for European economic governance in the European sovereign debt crisis. We assess citizens' opinions on increased intergovernmental cooperation and supranational governance in the economic sphere. We argue that current efforts to tackle the Euro crisis do not benefit the typical 'winners of European integration'. Moreover, European economic governance constitutes an even greater perceived threat to national identity, especially in the member states that fare well economically. Hypotheses are tested using multilevel analysis of Eurobarometer survey wave EB 75.3 (2011).

This study examines the relationship between educational attainment and euroscepticism from 1973 to 2010. Existing research has shown that, driven by utilitarian considerations, political cues and questions of collective identity, education and euroscepticism are negatively related. However, as the process of European unification has progressed, all three factors have become more salient, so we expect an increasing effect of education on euroscepticism over time. Using 81 waves of the Eurobarometer survey in 12 European Union (EU) member states, our results show that the impact of education on euroscepticism has indeed increased, particularly after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty.

Current research shows that participating in an Erasmus exchange does not strengthen European identity. However, this does not necessarily imply that transnational interactions are ineffective in fostering European identity. Rather, the Erasmus programme misses its mark by addressing university students who are already very likely to feel European. Due to a ceiling effect, their experience abroad cannot make a difference. In contrast, low‐educated individuals who might respond strongly to cross‐border mobility by adopting a European identity hardly participate in educational exchange because they leave school before these programmes take place. Analyses of Eurobarometer survey data support this hypothesis.

The political fault lines surrounding the European sovereign debt crisis have underlined the political relevance and the fragile foundation of public support for international redistribution in the European Union. Against the backdrop of an emerging political integration-demarcation divide, this contribution examines how cosmopolitanism structures people's willingness to redistribute internationally within the European Union. To this aim, we conducted laboratory experiments on redistributive behaviour towards other European citizens in the United Kingdom and Germany and analysed cross-national survey data on support for international redistribution covering the EU-28. Our findings suggest that cosmopolitanism increases generosity towards other Europeans and support for international redistribution even when controlling for self-interest, support for national redistribution, concern for others and political ideology.

No abstract