Who Gets Represented? (Un)equal Representation in the European Union

Several works have investigated unequal representation in the US and found that policy mostly responds to and is congruent with the preferences of affluent Americans. Building on this pioneering work, I investigate unequal policy representation in the European Union. Given limited public control over EU policy-making, I hypothesize that policy representation in the EU should clearly be skewed towards the preferences of groups with higher access and interest in EU politics, such as the young, people from higher social strata, or the educated. Building on a unique dataset of public opinion and policy change covering more than 200 policy issues that appeared on the EU’s agenda after Eastern enlargement, I employ a series of frequentist and Bayesian statistical tests to ascertain which social group’s preferences are best represented by EU policy-making. The results demonstrate that EU policy output is most responsive to the preferences of younger, higher educated and socially more well-off individuals. These patterns of representation are reflected in public support for the EU.