engleski

Public Support for European Integration in Croatia: Utilitarian, Identity-based, Institutionally Driven or All of the Above?

Stability of the European Union's political system and future directions of European integration are becoming increasingly dependent upon the attitudes of EU citizens. Emphasizing significance of public support for the project of European integration, Chapter 5 examined the background of popular Euroscepticism in Croatia. The author presented broader theoretical perspectives on Euroscepticism and discussed conceptual and analytical shortcomings associated with their application. In an attempt to provide a more comprehensive framework of popular support for European integration, a structural model of Croatian citizens' attitudes towards the EU was synthesized. In addition to encompassing a range of economic, political, social, symbolic, and institutionally-driven motives as predictors of Euroscepticism, the model accounted for mediated relationships between Euroscepticism and its predictors. To empirically verify the model, data from a national probability study carried out during the country's accession negotiations process were used. Results indicated that public support for European integration among Croatian citizens was substantially influenced by various concrete utilitarian assessments of outcomes of the country's EU membership and by evaluation of the EU's institutional efficacy. However, structural relationships among predictors suggested that calculations of tangible membership costs and benefits were in fact to a large degree grounded in value-based factors. Whether in favor of European integration or not, Croatian citizens seem to be strongly relying on emotional anchors and their national and supranational identifications when reasoning about the EU. Likely explanations are considered, as well as likely consequences for future support of the EU in Croatia, particularly with regards to European identity. It served a prominent role in suppressing Euroscepticism during the pre-accession period, which was marked by political and media discourse on joining the EU as s "journey back to European family". Now that Croatia formally "returned home", the role of Europeanism remains unclear as no groundwork has yet been laid neither for a more explicit identification with the EU nor for the Union's proper knowledge- and experience-based evaluation.

Euroscepticism, European Integration, European Union, Public support for the EU, Croatian citizens

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