Presentations by Streams

The attitudes towards the European Union (EU) in the new member states from post-communist Europe developed over time both among the public and political elites. Before the accession, the majority of voters in most countries supported the accession, which was reflected in the outcomes of referendums on the topic. Over time, the Euroscepticism of specific segments in the population increased and the international surveys show great variation in the degree of support for the EU. In parallel, many Eurosceptic political parties gained seats in the national parliaments all these countries, while in some cases such parties are in government. In spite of these developments, we know little about whether the voters and politicians share similar critiques towards the EU at the same time. In other words, it is unclear to what extent we witness a convergence of attitudes among the voters and political elites. To address this gap in the literature, this panel gathers papers that analyze the convergence between people’s and politicians / political parties’ attitudes towards the EU in Eastern European countries in the last two decades.