Policy Europeanization and EU Support in Candidate Countries

Public support for the EU is critical for successful accession of candidate countries to the EU. Although it has extensively been studied in the context of member states, little is known about public support for the EU in candidate countries. Most of the existing studies remain patchy and merely mirror individual-level determinants of public support for the EU in member states. Moving beyond individual level explanations, this study draws on the theories of policy feedback effects and the Europeanization literatures in order to analyse the extent to which the level of policy Europeanisation in candidate countries shape citizens’ support for integration. Furthermore, it relies on a unique dataset that measures the level of preparation of candidate countries with EU acquis by policy area based on annual Commission reports and Eurobarometer surveys. It argues that higher levels of policy Europeanization in a candidate country leads to higher public support for the EU. Additionally, it explores potential moderators of the impact of policy Europeanization on public support for the EU such as the length of accession negotiations and major political shifts in each country. The study covers five candidate countries (Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey) over the period from 2014-2024 and uses multilevel modelling techniques.