Unconditional Trust? Public Opinion Towards the EU in Romania
Unconditional Trust? Public Opinion Towards the EU in Romania

Summary/Abstract: Building on the largely acknowledged fact that attitudes towards the European Union are multidimensional (Hobolt 2014; Harteveld et. al. 2013), this paper aims at exploring the relationship between three important and presumably related dimensions: trust in national institutions, trust in the European Union, and confidence regarding the future of the European Union. Based on some relevant questions from the Standard Eurobarometers implemented between 2007 and 2015, I pose that Romanians (still) perceive the European Union as a “lifebuoy”, as a better potential alternative to the national system of governance. I argue that the source of the Romanians’ Euro-enthusiasm has national, rather than European, roots. This phenomenon – which I call rational extrapolation - is emblematic for the countries where citizens see the European Union as a panacea for domestic problems that cannot be effectively addressed within the nation state. One important implication of this paper is that national proxies play a leading role in shaping EU-related opinions and attitudes.

• Details
• Contents