European Union Studies Working GroupDepartment of Political and Social Sciences |
Abstract: This project’s central goal is to examine the process of de-legitimizing of the Luxembourg Compromise, an informal agreement of the EC member-states about how to handle voting in the Council of Ministers, during the period between 1966 and 1986. The project aims to reconstruct the transformation over time of core dimensions of the consensus culture that particularly dominated the Council’s decision-making during these two decades: which actors claimed a veto? Which arguments were employed and how did they change? Which conceptions of European Union did these arguments reflect? What influence did structural changes have on the fading of the Luxembourg arrangement and increased use of voting? Utilizing relevant political science theories as ‘heuristic tools’, the project will employ a qualitative source-based research methodology with in-depth research on five case studies and multi-archival research in several EU countries including sources from different state and non-state actors. With this design, the project focuses on key supra- and transnational dimensions of European integration history with great potential for strong impact on contemporary historical and political science research in particular.
Abstract:
European studies unanimously designate 1992 as a breaking point in
European public opinion. After a regular increase in support for Europe
during the second half of the 1980s, a record approval rate of 77% was
reached in 1991, followed by a steep decrease until the mid-
1990s. According to Dalton and Eichenberg (2007), the 1992 dramatic
drop in support was a side-effect of the Maastricht Treaty: the
establishment of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) raised citizens’
awareness on the integration consequences for the economy and the
welfare state in European public opinion. The financial pressures that
came along with the EMU raised concerns about the potential
consequences for the level of social protection and labour market (de)
regulation.
This paper assesses the empirical validity of this
hypothesis by analysing the effect of redistribution on support for
Europe over time, in three steps. Redistribution is here intended first
of all as national redistribution, that is, welfare regime and welfare
issues (social protection and inequality reduction). I investigate
first the effects of redistribution on general support for Europe.
Then, I narrow down the focus to social concerns and analyse who fears
the EU’s influence on national social protection. Finally, I
investigate specific support for European social policy. I use data
from Eurobarometer studies from 1996 to 2009, focusing on the EU
Fifteen. Individual data has been aggregated to the national level so
the unit of analysis is member state. Consequently, I use fixed effect
time series cross sectional analysis.
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