Perceptions of the EU’s policy impact: Europeanization of public attitudes in Hungary

This paper investigates the perceptions of the EU’s policy impact by revealing the Hungarian public’s awareness of the EU’s domestic policy influence and its attitudes towards Europeanization. The research involves descriptive and regression analyses of cross-sectional survey data. The data was recorded by Závecz Research in August 2021, as part of an in-person public opinion research based on the questionnaire of the authors. In accordance with our expectations, the majority of Hungarians could not locate correctly the level of integration of most policies, and misperceptions about the policy influence of the EU on Hungarian domestic politics are widespread. It is a sign of Eurosceptic “wishful thinking” that the higher level of sovereignty respondents preferred, the more policies they assumed to be controlled exclusively by member states. Contrasting the expected results, respondents were more likely to support the EU integration of those policies that are in fact Europeanized to a larger extent. Pro-government supporters and voters of right-wing identity in general have a lower probability to support EU integration of policies. Furthermore, it was also proven that higher level of policy-related knowledge about EU membership reduces the magnitude of the effect of political preferences on support for Hungary’s EU integration.