Anti-EU Backlash from Below or Above? Public Opinion in Central and Eastern Europe Prior to the 2015 Migration Crisis

Abstract

Relations between Brussels and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) worsened during and after the 2015 migration crisis. In order to see to what extent CEE citizens contributed to and/or resonated with this new state of affairs, this paper investigates public opinion before the migration crisis in seven CEE EU Member States. We inquire whether the main issues of the rift (CEE political elites’ opposition to following EU decisions and immigration and their emphasis on sovereignism, nationalism, Christian Europe and historical traumas) could also be traced to public stances towards these issues before the migration crisis. We used the ISSP National Identity module conducted in 2013 and 2014 in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia. The results show that opposition to EU supranationalism was not linked to ethnic nationalism and religious identity (except in Hungary). Contrary to political elites, who emphasised the cultural threat posed by migration, public opinion was more concerned with the economic threat. Moreover, the perception of cultural threat was not linked to opposing EU supranationalism in any of the countries. However, particularly support for sovereignism (in almost all the countries), but also pride in national history (in some countries) correlated negatively with support for EU supranationalism. The results suggest that political elites can bypass public opinion to construct an anti-EU climate, however not out of thin air. The conditions for such a process were present in Hungary with its emerging transnational cleavage, which shows the importance of cleavages in studying Euroscepticism.

The ‘Brussels Bubble’: Populism in Slovenia In the Eu Crises Context

“…Researchers argue the CEE countries are particularly exposed to the rise of populism and Euroscepticism because their Euro-Atlantic integration and politico-economic transformation followed an elite apolitical pattern with expert politicians in the centre, and decisions imposed from above (Korkut, 2012;Petrović et al, 2021). Implementation of the liberal paradigm was often artificial and/or poorly accommodated to local needs.…”

Law Students and Social Distance towards Migrants and Some Other Relevant Groups in Croatia

“…Second, the above bias has been shown to be strengthened in situations of conflict exacerbation. In such situations, individuals tend to identify more strongly with their social group and adhere more closely to its norms and standards, while expressing more negative attitudes and behaviours towards the social group or groups they consider to be on the opposite side (Pehlić 2019).…”

“…By rejecting the EU's proposed migrant quotas, they sought to change the European political scene (cf. Petrović et al 2021;Lončar 2020). The Visegrad Group (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) -which calls itself the "protectors of Europe from foreign invaders"opposed Germany's policy of "welcoming" migrants and the "Brussels" reform of the common asylum system (Strnad 2022, 73).…”