Solidarization and Othering in Europe. Who Deserves to be European?

European solidarity was invoked during the Euro, Migration, Covid-19 crises, also the War in Ukraine. Yet, Europe is far from a homogeneous continent. Reflecting this, the current empirical literature on the subject finds considerable heterogeneity in with whom European citizens are willing to be solidaristic with. Theoretically the current literature relies on a static vision of different forms of proximity and reciprocity between two nations to explain this heterogeneity. Empirically it omits the role of the elite discourse in shaping the way proximity and reciprocity is perceived by the citizens. To problematize this status quo, I develop and empirically test the framework of Solidarization. It posits that political proximity is not a static fact of the world, but also a function of the way a given actor is discursively included (solidarized) or excluded (othered) from a specific sphere of solidarity. The empirical exploration relies primarily on text-as-data methods and a mix of elite speech data, including newly collected database of speeches by heads of governments. The findings suggest a pattern of discursive exclusion of certain regions from the sphere of solidarity, suggestively complementing the observed heterogeneity in the public attitudes. This further speaks to the fact that at least some of the backlash against the EU in the Central and Eastern European member states might stem from being perceived as second or third class Europeans. The states of European Union should thus focus on supplementing formal integration with genuine discursive inclusion.