The democratic legitimacy of European institutions and support for social policy in Europe

In this chapter we investigate public support for social security at the European level, like e.g. the proposal for a European Social Union. We start from a path dependency hypothesis, suggesting that current welfare state arrangements will have an enduring impact on public opinion. Given the structural differences between member states, this would suggest that reaching a consensus across European societies will not be a straightforward process. First, we investigate whether a shared European identity can be used as a foundation for a European-wide social policy, but we do not find a significant relationship between European identity and support for increased social security at the EU level. Individual mechanisms of solidarity and insurance are therefore unlikely candidates as a foundation for social policy within Europe. We do find a positive relation between trust in the EU institutions and support for social policy at the European level. This suggests that attitudes toward the institutions can determine the public legitimacy of policies implemented by these institutions, as the institutions are being held responsible for the sustainability of the common good of a prosperous and cohesive European Union. A tentative conclusion therefore could be that a European Social Union should be based on trustworthy institutions, governing a common good for all European citizens.status: publishe