Do Citizens Support the Differentiated Integration of Their Country?

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of public opinion on differentiated integration in the European Union (EU). Specifically, it tests a ‘congruence hypothesis’ according to which public opinion is informed by the national experience of opt-outs and exclusions from full participation in EU policies. The study generally finds that support for differentiated integration strongly depends on the mode of differentiation. Even though ‘multi-speed differentiation’ is only temporary, it is evaluated more critically than durable treaty opt-outs establishing ‘multi-tier differentiation’. We suggest that citizens from opt-out countries oppose multi-speed differentiation out of concern that it would render their exemptions temporary, whereas citizens from new member states tend to be critical towards the often involuntary and discriminatory transitional arrangements that were imposed by the old member states.