How Europeans Understand Solidarity, Reciprocity and Fairness in the EU

Björn Egner is Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Political Science, TU Darmstadt, Germany.Hubert Heinelt is Professor at the Institute of Political Science, TU Darmstadt, Germany (formally retired since April 2018).Jens Steffek is Professor at the Institute of Political Science, TU Darmstadt, Germany.

“Solidarity, Reciprocity, and Fairness are key concepts when it comes to the European Union, its past and its future – but rarely are the understandings of these terms empirically explored through the voices of European citizens. This book addresses this important issue and presents results from ambitious focus group research, covering citizens of nine EU countries. It sheds light on what citizens think they owe their fellow Europeans, on citizens’ beliefs, and prevalent storylines. This book is recommended reading for scholars interested in European studies, social policy, and comparative social sciences.”Sonja Blum, Professor of Comparative Politics and Public Policy, Bielefeld University, Germany."Very interesting findings on European solidarity from qualitative research that should be taken into account when developing new items for public opinion surveys."Daniela Braun, Professor of Political Science with a focus on European Integration and International Relations, Saarland University, Germany."What do citizens think about solidarity, reciprocity and fairness in the European Union? With a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of novel focus group interviews, this excellent book fills an important research gap. The research team paints a hopeful picture of a united European public in times of crisis that wants to support each other across borders. However, the interviews also demonstrate that citizens apply various conditions to transnational solidarity, showing that attitudes are complex and ambiguous."Gianna Maria Eick, Assistant Professor in Political Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.“How do Europeans talk about solidarity, reciprocity, and fairness? How exactly do they understand these concepts when it comes to transborder relations? Drawing on an impressive suite of focus groups, the Authors take us into the subtle architecture of storylines, commonplaces used in communicative interaction (/topoi/), and fragmented narratives. They explore the emerging dimensions of a possible European identity by listening to conversations, instead of examining official policy. What emerges is a constrained space for policy reforms – a space policymakers should be fully aware of, if they want to make decisions that citizens perceive as legitimate and fair.”Claudio M Radaelli, Professor of Public Policy, University College London, UK; Professor at the European University Institute, Florence School of Transnational Governance, Italy.“This excellent volume casts new light on public perceptions on solidarity in the EU. It goes beyond the state of the art for both its analytical framework and its comparative research strategy based on focus groups. A must read for all students and scholars interested in Social Europe.”Maurizio Ferrera, Professor of Political Science, University of Milan, Italy.

• 1. Introduction 2. Cohesion, solidarity, fairness and reciprocity: Clarifying the concepts in the EU context 3. Exploring how Europeans understand solidarity in the EU: A focus group approach 4. Finland: “We should not get help either if we’re in a shitty situation and we’ve put ourselves there” 5. Germany: “We profit if the EU, if other countries are doing well” 6. The Netherlands: A “small frog country”, but also the “best boy in class”? 7. Greece: “What it should be? It should be everybody giving and everybody helping” 8. Portugal: “We are living at the expense of European funds but these funds have been misused” 9. Spain: A second class country lagging behind Europe: “The better Europe does, the better Spain will do” 10. Latvia: “We should stand strongly together and support each other as much as we can” 11. Lithuania: Consistently pro-European but still “a bit of a scrooge” 12. Slovakia: “Why should we save their ass, when it’s their own fault?” 13. Solidarity in the European Union: Results of comparative analysis of the focus group discussions 14. National storylines and topoi found in the focus group discussions 15. Conclusion