Summary
The European Union is an increasingly differentiated political system: not all member states participate in all EU policies (internal differentiation). Moreover, third countries formally participate in certain EU policies (external differentiation). A key question in the constitutional debate on the future of Europe is to what extent such ‘differentiated integration’ is desirable and legitimate.
This brief reports on original public opinion data and discusses which forms of differentiation citizens support and under what conditions they find differentiation problematic. Our data shows that European citizens distinguish between and formulate nuanced attitudes towards different forms of differentiated integration. While a majority of citizens are open to differentiation in the EU, attitudes vary across member states and between citizens with different political preferences. Despite these differences, citizens share important procedural and outcome concerns. Differentiation should be designed to be inclusive. In this respect, the enhanced cooperation procedure, enabling a subgroup of minimum nine EU member states to cooperate more closely within particular fields, resonates well with public sentiment. But there are clear red lines: differentiation should not make non-participating EU countries worse off. In sum, differentiated integration will not solve all disagreements in a diverse EU. To be legitimate in the eyes of the public, a differentiated EU must find the right balance between respect for member-state autonomy and respect for the EU’s common interests and norms.
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Max Heermann and Dirk Leuffen
EU3D Policy Brief No. 2, March 2023
