Euroscepticism in times of european crises: The role of solidarity

Abstract

During the recent decade, European solidarity has been on everyone’s lips. However, to date, no study has captured the multiple facets of European solidarity and its effect on EU critical attitudes in times of the European financial and migrant crises. To fill the above-mentioned research gap, this chapter differentiates between the support for value-based European solidarity and transnational solidarity actions. I tested this using Eurobarometer waves ascertained from 2009 to 2015. The results show that solidarity does indeed affect attitudinal Euroscepticism. However, solidarity as a value has a more volatile effect on EU critical sentiments compared to the endorsement of solidarity actions. European citizens more likely oppose European integration once it comes along with cross-country burden sharing.