All on board? The role of institutional design for public support for differentiated integration

Lisanne de Blok, Max Heermann, Julian Schuessler, Dirk Leuffen and Catherine E. de Vries
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Lisanne de Blok: 8125Utrecht University School of Governance, 8125Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Max Heermann: Cluster of Excellence ‘The Politics of Inequality’ and Department of Politics and Public Administration, 26567University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Julian Schuessler: Department of Political Science, 1006Aarhus Universitet, Aarhus, Denmark
Dirk Leuffen: Department of Politics and Public Administration and Cluster of Excellence ‘The Politics of Inequality’, 26567University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Catherine E. de Vries: Department of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy

European Union Politics, 2024, vol. 25, issue 3, 593-604

Abstract: Differentiated integration is often considered a solution to gridlock in the European Union. However, questions remain concerning its perceived legitimacy among the public. While research shows that most citizens are not, in principle, opposed to differentiated integration – although support varies across different differentiated integration models and different country contexts – we still know little about the role institutional design plays in citizens’ evaluations of differentiated integration. This article inspects how citizens evaluate different hypothetical differentiated integration arrangements, with varying decision-making procedures, using a conjoint experiment. We ask whether institutional arrangements can overcome citizens’ preference heterogeneity over differentiated integration, and thereby foster the legitimacy of a differentiated European Union. We find that while a majority of citizens care about the inclusiveness of differentiated integration arrangements, they also support limiting the number of veto points. Our analysis also reveals noteworthy differences across citizens with pro- and anti-European Union attitudes in the perceived fairness of differentiated integration arrangements.

Keywords: Differentiated integration; EU support; fairness; institutional design; public opinion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:25:y:2024:i:3:p:593-604

DOI: 10.1177/14651165241246384

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