https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8807-6322
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ABSTRACT
This article aims to explore the conditions under which Italian citizens would be ready to support a greater role for the EU in matters currently subject to the authority of its member states. We examine how citizens perceive the role of the EU in managing the currently pressing problems induced by the most recent crises. Through the analysis of original data collected as part of the EUENGAGE survey of public opinion in 2016, we show that the disproportionate costs of transnational crises on member states, especially in countries that are most exposed such as Italy, produce public demand for EU intervention. In a crisis context, even in countries like Italy, where support for the EU is at a minimum, a sense of insecurity and grievance among citizens may turn into demands for EU initiatives.
KEYWORDS:
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The data at our disposal allow us to test citizens’ attitudes across these three policy fields which have known different levels of integration in the past but have in common the fact of being at the centre of contemporary European crises. Unfortunately, the questionnaire does not include questions on other policy fields that could be used as additional controls in the analyses.
2. The exact question used for the EUENGAGE survey was ‘Different policies have been suggested and we would like to know your view. For each of the following policy alternatives, please position yourself on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means that you fully support the policy at the top/left and 10 means that you fully support the policy at the bottom/right. If your views are somewhere in between, you can choose any number that best describes your position. Pursuing a policy to balance the budget in the coming years (0) vs. increasing public investment (10)’. As high as 54% of respondents indicated a value above the middle of the scale (5).
3. We grouped the continuum from 0 to 10 into three categories: 0–3, 5 to 6, and 7 to 10. Pearson chi2(4) = 292.4451 Pr = 0.000, likelihood-ratio chi2(4) = 278.7465 Pr = 0.000.
4. For an overview see Suhrke (Citation1998).
5. The declarations about the refugee crisis made by the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, are emblematic in this sense, see for instance https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/world/europe/italy-government-giuseppe-conte.html
6. Although to share resources may refer to several types of engagement – ranging from contributing some money towards the handling of a policy problem to more actively contributing and being directly involved – we make use of a concept wording that is compatible with the data at our disposal. Unfortunately, the survey questions do not allow a level of depth greater than this broad notion of intra-EU solidarity.
7. It is important to consider that burden-sharing among European countries could also take place without EU coordination: it would be enough to mention the case of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal political project of open asylum policy in Germany in the most critical days of the refugee crisis in 2015 as an example of burden-sharing by independent initiative.
8. EUENGAGE is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 649,281 – EUENGAGE – H2020-EURO-2014-2015/H2020-EURO-SOCIETY-2014. The countries included in the survey are the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. The whole sample includes about 20,000 observations; the final Italian sample includes 2,202 interviews. For reasons of quality control of the data, only those respondents who took at least 30 per cent of the average time spent by the sample to fill in the questionnaire are included in the analysis.
9. The EUENGAGE mass sample was weighted to reflect the actual demographic composition of the country’s 18+ population with access to the Internet. Further weights were introduced based on the original quota targets (age, gender, education and region) to fit the actual population proportions. For a description of country distributions see the Appendix.
10. For a full description of the EU-funded EUENGAGE Project see http://www.euengage.eu/
11. They read as follows: 1) The recent world economic crisis has produced high unemployment and low economic growth in a number of countries. Different policies have been suggested and we would like to know your view. For each of the following policy alternatives, please position yourself on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means that you fully support the policy at the top/left and 10 means that you fully support the policy at the bottom/right. If your views are somewhere in between, you can choose any number that best describes your position; 2) In recent years, several EU countries have been facing extensive immigration from non-EU countries. Different policies have been suggested and we would like to know your view. For each of the following policy alternatives, please position yourself on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means that you fully support the policy at the top/left and 10 means that you fully support the policy at the bottom/right. If your views are somewhere in between, you can choose any number that best describes your position; 3) In recent years, the EU has been confronted with international security crises in the Ukraine and in Mediterranean countries (such as Libya and Syria). Different policies have been suggested and we would like to know your view. For each of the following policy alternatives, please position yourself on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means that you would fully support the policy at the top/left and 10 means that you fully support the policy at the bottom/right. If your views are somewhere in between, you can choose any number that best describes your position.
12. The question was the following: How much of the time do you think you can trust Italy’s government to do what is right? Answers include ‘Never + Only some of the time’ (re-coded as 0), and ‘Most of the time + Just about always’ (re-coded as 1). Respondents giving ‘Do-not-know’ answers are not included in the analysis.
13. The question reads as follows:People feel different degrees of attachment to their region, to their country, to Europe, and to the world. What about you? Do you feel very attached, somewhat attached, not very attached or not at all attached to [Europe]?Answers include ‘very attached’, ‘somewhat attached’, ‘not very attached’, ‘not at all attached’ and ‘do not know’. We re-coded from no attachment to ‘very’ (3). Respondents giving ‘Do-not-know’ answers are not included in the analysis.
14. The question was the following: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement: those who make decisions in the European Union do not take enough account of the interests of Italy. Answers include ‘Strongly disagree + Somewhat disagree’ (re-coded as 0), and ‘Strongly agree + Somewhat agree’ (re-coded as 1). Respondents giving ‘Do-not-know’ answers are not included in the analysis.
15. The question is: In politics, people sometimes talk of left and right. Where would you place yourself on a scale from 0 to 10, where ‘0ʹ means the extreme left and ‘10ʹ means the extreme right?Answers go from ‘left’ (coded as 0) to ‘right’ (coded as 10). Respondents answering ‘Do not know’ and ‘Prefer not to answer’ are not included in the analysis.
16. The variable was re-coded in the following way: 0 = male, 1 = female.
17. The variable was re-coded in the following way: 0 = 40–54, 1 = 18–24, 2 = 25–39, 3 = 55–64, 4 = 65 +.
18. The variable was re-coded as a binary variable distinguishing graduates (re-coded as 1) from those with a diploma or a lower qualification and also includes those who have no qualifications (re-coded as 0).
19. The variable was re-coded from 0 to 11 – answers include ‘Less than £8,000ʹ (re-coded as 0, in the Italian questionnaire the corresponding value was calculated in euros), and ‘More than £80,000ʹ (re-coded as 11).
20. The variable was re-coded in the following way: 0 = other, 1 = self-employed, 2 = employee, 3 = manual workers, 4 = without employment.
21. The values of the Variance Inflation Factors (VIFs) of our main independent variables range from 1.10 to 1.13 (security). In any case, the VIF values of our independent variables are always smaller than 10.
22. Endogeneity tests of endogenous regressors (the null hypothesis being that the dependent variables and the variable having the higher coefficient (Shared Resources for the Economy) are exogenous): Model 1, chi-square(1) = 0.027 (p= 0.8707); Model 2: chi-square(1) = 0.194 (p= 0.6593); Model 3: chi-square(1) = 2.322 (p= 0.1275); Model 4: chi-square(1) = 0.5123 (p= 0.4741).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Nicolò Conti
Nicolò Conti is Professor of Political Science at the Unitelma Sapienza University of Rome. His research interests deal with political parties, elites and public opinion. His work has appeared in journals such as West European Politics, European Union Politics, Party Politics, South European Society and Politics, International Political Science Review, Politics, Italian Political Science Review among others. He is the author of Citizens, Europe and the Media. Have New Media made Citizens more Eurosceptical? (Plagrave, 2016 – with V. Memoli) and editor of European integration and the Eurozone crisis: the view of national political elites (Routledge, 2018 – with B. Goncz and J. Real Dato).
Danilo Di Mauro
Danilo Di Mauro is assistant professor of Political Science at the University of Catania. He was awarded the Giovanni Sartori Prize for the best article appeared in the Italian Political Science Review (2018), the “Prereg prize” of the Center for Open Science (COS – US) and the Italian Society for Electoral Studies (ITANES) prize for the “Prereg Challenge” (2018). His articles have been published by European Union Politics (EUP), the Italian Political Science Review, Acta Politica, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, European Integration online Papers, Cooperation and Conflict (PACO), Contemporary Italian Politics and Journal of Contemporary European Research. He is the author (with V. Memoli) of the monograph Attitudes Towards Europe Beyond Euroscepticism: Supporting the European Union Through the Crisis (Palgrave, 2016).
Vincenzo Memoli
Vincenzo Memoli is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Catania. His main research interests include democracy, public opinion and political behaviour. His most recent publications include Citizens, Europe and the Media. Have New Media made Citizens more Eurosceptical? (Palgrave - 2016, co-authored with Nicolò Conti) and Attitudes Towards Europe Beyond Euroscepticism - Supporting the European Union through the Crisis (Palgrave - 2016, co-authored with Danilo Di Mauro). His articles have appeared in journals such as Acta Politica, American Political Science Review, British Journal of Political Science, European Union Politics, Governance, International Political Science Review, The International Journal of Press/Politics, West European Politics, and other peer-reviewed journals.