The euro crisis does not only challenge the institutional capacities of the EU to reach agreement among the member states in issues such as the Greek debt crisis. It also raises the question whether EU citizens prefer a ‘hard’ position in this case which implies demanding the Greek government to further apply austerity measures and fully repay their debt to the ECB and to other creditors, or whether citizens prefer a solidarity approach which implies decisions such as debt restructuring or other ways to invest in the recovery of the Greek economy. Self-evidently, this preference can be explained by a combination of determinants. General attitudes about economic governance such as position on the economic left-right dimension, for instance, would be a logical explanation. Another factor that is often put forward as a key determinant for citizens’ preferences about policy-making concerning the euro crisis is citizens’ strength of European identity. While some argue that European identity, if present, is only a superficial type of identification that is overshadowed by attachments to the member state, many others argue that citizens who identify as part of a community of EU citizens are more supportive of intra-European solidarity. They are expected to be more likely to be willing to redistribute wealth to other member states as these member states and their citizens are not seen as ‘the other’, but as one of their own.
However, little evidence has been provided for either of these claims. The ongoing euro crisis provides momentum to study whether EU community building could influence attitudes about intra-European solidarity as this became a pressing issue. Moreover, in the wake of the euro crisis, asking citizens about their preferences with regard to intra-European solidarity is less abstract because showing solidarity with member states that face severe economic and financial difficulties became reality. Hence, the euro crisis provides a suitable context to study the relationship between European identity and attitudes about intra-European solidarity.
A provisional multilevel analysis on the European Election Study 2014 data that contain information on citizens of all EU member states shows that citizens with a stronger European identity tend to find it more desirable for their country to provide financial help to another EU member state facing severe economic and financial difficulties, than citizens with a weaker European identity. This effect is robust for controls such as general attitudes towards economic redistribution, (perceived) economic situation, living in a member state that has been most severely hit by the euro crisis (the ‘PIIGS’ countries) or general attitudes about the EU or one’s own member state. Hence, the paper demonstrates that European identity is a source of solidarity between citizens of the member states. Moreover, the data show that even when citizens have a strong(er) national identity, they are still more in favour of intra-European solidarity when they also have a European identity. Combining national and European identity thus does not imply that European identity is only superficial and does not affect citizens’ attitudes and behaviour.
