National Political Elites, the EU and the Crisis

The paper examines the attitudes of national political elites toward the EU under the crisis. It is based on original elite survey data that are part of a new comparative project. The feelings toward the EU have survived the acute change (to elite composition, to the state of the economy) introduced by the context of the crisis. Although opposition to the EU has emerged, this has not occurred in a linear way across countries. Euroscepticism is more concentrated in some countries but remains dispersed in others. Country effects loom relevant for elite attitudes and a Europe-wide Eurosceptic camp able to challenge the mainstream conduct of the national governments is far from being in place. Euroscepticism is a growing phenomenon at the level of voters, parties and the media, but possibly less on the rise among the elites.