Mapping citizens, voters, and parties’ preferences on European solidarity across EU member states

Since 2008, the European Union (EU) witnessed a growing tension
between the social and economic dimensions of integration as
a consequence of the ‘polycrisis’. The increasing politicisation of EU issues
in national political arenas that led to the rise of Eurosceptic parties mostly
revolved around the issue of European solidarity. Against this background,
this study investigates the congruence between voters and incumbent
members of national parliaments on the highly contentious aspects of EU
solidarity. First, the article maps the extent to which national political
elites share similar views on EU solidarity with their voters. Secondly, we
assess members of parliaments (MPs)-voters’ congruence at the party
level. Employing original data from an elite and a mass survey conducted
in six EU countries between 2017 and 2018, we find that both voters and
MPs expressed a high level of support for policies strengthening European
solidarity in the Eurozone periphery. Instead, voters in Northern and
Eastern EU member states shared more positive preferences than their
national representatives. Furthermore, the party-voter distance was
higher for radical-right Eurosceptic MPs, especially in Northern Europe,
than for other parties.