Fifteen years after Matthew Gabel’s seminal work on support for European integration (1998a), this paper empirically tests again the ‘five theories’ to explain attitudes towards the EU. In Gabel’s article, findings (1998b) show that citizen’s support could be explained by both cognitive mobilization and political values (affective dimension), in particular across original member states, while policy effects on welfare, political parties and government support (utilitarian dimension) were determinant in later member states. This paper replicates Matthew Gabel’s test on five theories, using the Eurobarometer data. First, it briefly presents the five theories and the most recent findings in the literature; second, it tests the five theories in two case studies: Italy, as one of the founding member states that has undergone economic recession for four years in a row; and Poland, as one of the recent new member states that represented half of the 2004 enlargement and is the eight biggest economy in the EU. Finally, the theories will be tested in comparative perspective. This analysis expects that elites have greater opportunity to influence public opinion in Central and Eastern Europe. However, high levels of distrust for political elites and very low levels of turnout can indicate that the egocentric and sociotropic utilitarian indicators and the affective dimension can be determinant also in post-Communist countries; and recent analyses on the current financial crisis show that national identity and political institutions are increasingly significant in explaining support for the EU. While it is worth noting that party-based euroscepticism does not necessarily translate into public euroscepticism, and there may not be a relationship between eurosceptic or euroenthusiast voting into eurosceptic and euroenthusiast political parties at national and European Parliament elections, this paper stresses the differences and possible convergences across Western and Eastern member states.
