Public Attitudes towards External vs. Internal EU Sanctions

Do Europeans think about EU sanctions against member states and sanctions against third countries in the same way? The EU regularly uses economic sanctions against third countries in the framework of its Common Foreign and Security Policy in order to promote democracy. Yet at the same time, today with democracy being challenged within its borders by Hungary and Poland, the EU resorts to coercive measures to react to norm violations among its members. The effort of imposing sanctions under Article 7 as well as through alternative frameworks is meant to deprive member states which violate EU democraticnorms of certain perks in the EU context, such as Council voting rights. Taking the case of Poland, we investigate citizens’ reactions to EU intentions to impose sanctions and to influence state policies against EU members, non-members and Poland itself. Using a survey experiment administered to a representative sample of Poles (N=1000), we study whichfactors influence how respondents think about EU sanctions, as well as whether the sanction’s target matters. Our findings have important implications for EU studies and the literatures on sanctions and democracy promotion.