IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/eeupol/v26y2025i3p526-551.html

Supranational redistribution and support for European integration

Author

Listed:
  • Irina Ciornei

Abstract

This article inquires into the role of supranational redistributive policies in shaping citizens’ support for European integration. The research proposes a multidimensional concept of supranational redistribution, encompassing policies that directly target European citizens, such as unemployment and non-contributory benefit schemes at the EU level, as well as policies that target member states such as the Next Generation EU programme. Building upon the literature on policy feedback effects and historical institutionalism, the analysis proposes a theoretical model that encompasses both the direct and mediated effects of supranational redistribution. This analysis is supported by a survey experiment conducted in Spain and Italy, the largest recipients of Next Generation EU funds, yet characterised by distinct levels of public opinion and party Euroscepticism. The results show that a European unemployment benefit has the strongest potential to increase support for integration in individuals who are most likely to turn against the EU: citizens with low socio-economic resources and exclusive political identities.

Suggested Citation

  • Irina Ciornei, 2025. "Supranational redistribution and support for European integration," European Union Politics, , vol. 26(3), pages 526-551, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:26:y:2025:i:3:p:526-551
    DOI: 10.1177/14651165251340207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14651165251340207
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/14651165251340207?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Monika Bauhr & Nicholas Charron, 2020. "In God we Trust? Identity, Institutions and International Solidarity in Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1124-1143, September.
    2. Michael M. Bechtel & Jens Hainmueller & Yotam Margalit, 2014. "Preferences for International Redistribution: The Divide over the Eurozone Bailouts," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 58(4), pages 835-856, October.
    3. Ann-Kathrin Reinl & Daniela Braun, 2023. "Who holds the union together? Citizens’ preferences for European Union cohesion in challenging times," European Union Politics, , vol. 24(2), pages 390-409, June.
    4. Brian Burgoon & Theresa Kuhn & Francesco Nicoli & Frank Vandenbroucke, 2022. "Unemployment risk-sharing in the EU: How policy design influences citizen support for European unemployment policy," European Union Politics, , vol. 23(2), pages 282-308, June.
    5. François Denuit, 2019. "Fighting Poverty in the European Union. An Assessment of the Prospects for a European Universal Basic Income (EUBI)," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/284009, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Lewis Dijkstra, 2021. "Does Cohesion Policy reduce EU discontent and Euroscepticism?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(2), pages 354-369, February.
    7. Johnston, Richard & Banting, Keith & Kymlicka, Will & Soroka, Stuart, 2010. "National Identity and Support for the Welfare State," SULCIS Working Papers 2010:11, Stockholm University, Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS.
    8. Roberta Capello, 2018. "Cohesion Policies and the Creation of a European Identity: The Role of Territorial Identity," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 489-503, April.
    9. Paul Copeland & Mary Daly, 2018. "The European Semester and EU Social Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(5), pages 1001-1018, July.
    10. Lipset, Seymour Martin, 1959. "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy1," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(1), pages 69-105, March.
    11. Busemeyer, Marius R & Abrassart, Aurélien & Nezi, Roula, 2021. "Beyond Positive and Negative: New Perspectives on Feedback Effects in Public Opinion on the Welfare State," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(1), pages 137-162, January.
    12. Ann-Kathrin Reinl, 2022. "Transnational Solidarity Within the EU: Public Support for Risk-Sharing and Redistribution," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 1373-1397, October.
    13. Sharon Baute & Francesco Nicoli & Frank Vandenbroucke, 2022. "Conditional Generosity and Deservingness in Public Support for European Unemployment Risk Sharing," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 721-740, May.
    14. Hobolt, Sara B. & de Vries, Catherine E., 2016. "Turning against the union? The impact of the crisis on the Eurosceptic vote in the 2014 European Parliament elections," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 66831, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Claes H. De Vreese & Hajo G. Boomgaarden, 2006. "Media Effects on Public Opinion about the Enlargement of the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 419-436, June.
    16. Gabriela Borz & Heinz Brandenburg & Carlos Mendez, 2022. "The impact of EU Cohesion Policy on European identity: A comparative analysis of EU regions," European Union Politics, , vol. 23(2), pages 259-281, June.
    17. Roel Beetsma & Brian Burgoon & Francesco Nicoli & Anniek de Ruijter & Frank Vandenbroucke, 2022. "What kind of EU fiscal capacity? Evidence from a randomized survey experiment in five European countries in times of corona," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 37(111), pages 411-459.
    18. Easton, David, 1975. "A Re-assessment of the Concept of Political Support," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(4), pages 435-457, October.
    19. Doris Unger & Jürgen Sirsch & Daniel Stockemer & Arne Niemann, 2023. "What guides citizen support for redistributive EU measures as a response to COVID-19: Justice attitudes, self-interest or support for European integration?," European Union Politics, , vol. 24(3), pages 578-600, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tukiainen, Janne & Blesse, Sebastian & Bohne, Albrecht & Giuffrida, Leonardo M. & Jääskeläinen, Jan & Luukinen, Ari & Sieppi, Antti, 2024. "What are the priorities of bureaucrats? Evidence from conjoint experiments with procurement officials," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    2. Jaewook Lee, 2026. "Pushed by markets, pulled by machines: Economic pressures and the backlash to the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 27(1), pages 3-31, March.
    3. Fenja Søndergaard Møller, 2019. "Blue blood or true blood: Why are levels of intrastate armed conflict so low in Middle Eastern monarchies?," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 36(5), pages 517-544, September.
    4. Beetsma, Roel & Burgoon, Brian & Nicoli, Francesco, 2023. "Is european attachment sufficiently strong to support an EU fiscal capacity: Evidence from a conjoint experiment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Sarah Ciaglia & Clemens Fuest & Friedrich Heinemann, 2018. "What a feeling?! How to promote ‘European Identity’," EconPol Policy Reports 9, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    6. Ioana-Elena Oana & Alexandru D Moise & Zbigniew Truchlewski, 2025. "Demand-side constraints on European solidarity for energy sanctions: Experimental evidence from seven EU countries," European Union Politics, , vol. 26(2), pages 344-368, June.
    7. Ann-Kathrin Reinl & Daniela Braun, 2023. "Who holds the union together? Citizens’ preferences for European Union cohesion in challenging times," European Union Politics, , vol. 24(2), pages 390-409, June.
    8. Achillefs Papageorgiou & Waltteri Immonen, 2023. "How supranational institutions benefit from crises: Member states’ solidarity and the EU's image during the COVID-19 pandemic," European Union Politics, , vol. 24(3), pages 601-621, September.
    9. Patrick Clasen, 2024. "Solidarity on a divided continent: Perceptions of ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’ determine European citizens’ willingness to help other EU countries," European Union Politics, , vol. 25(3), pages 569-592, September.
    10. Wagner, Alexander F. & Schneider, Friedrich & Halla, Martin, 2009. "The quality of institutions and satisfaction with democracy in Western Europe -- A panel analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 30-41, March.
    11. von Soest, Christian & Grauvogel, Julia, 2015. "How Do Non-Democratic Regimes Claim Legitimacy? Comparative Insights from Post-Soviet Countries," GIGA Working Papers 277, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    12. Hajo G. Boomgaarden & Andreas R. T. Schuck & Matthijs Elenbaas & Claes H. de Vreese, 2011. "Mapping EU attitudes: Conceptual and empirical dimensions of Euroscepticism and EU support," European Union Politics, , vol. 12(2), pages 241-266, June.
    13. Holm, Joshua, 2016. "A model of redistribution under social identification in heterogeneous federations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 39-48.
    14. Wagner, Alexander F. & Schneider, Friedrich, 2006. "Satisfaction with Democracy and the Environment in Western Europe: A Panel Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 1929, IZA Network @ LISER.
    15. Enrique Hernández & Roberto Pannico, 2020. "The impact of EU institutional advertising on public support for European integration," European Union Politics, , vol. 21(4), pages 569-589, December.
    16. Doris Unger & Jürgen Sirsch & Daniel Stockemer & Arne Niemann, 2023. "What guides citizen support for redistributive EU measures as a response to COVID-19: Justice attitudes, self-interest or support for European integration?," European Union Politics, , vol. 24(3), pages 578-600, September.
    17. Becker, Sascha O & Thiemo Fetzer, 2018. "Why an EU Referendum? Why in 2016?," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1160, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    18. Lourdes Rojas Rubio, 2022. "Political Culture and Democratisation," Thema Working Papers 2022-17, THEMA (Théorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), CY Cergy-Paris University, ESSEC and CNRS.
    19. Lourdes ROJAS RUBIO, 2022. "Inequality, Corruption and Support for Democracy," Thema Working Papers 2022-20, THEMA (Théorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), CY Cergy-Paris University, ESSEC and CNRS.
    20. Reutzel, Fabian, 2024. "The grass is always greener on the other side: (Unfair) inequality and support for democracy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:26:y:2025:i:3:p:526-551. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.