This study explores the impact of media disinformation surrounding Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen Area on public attitudes toward the European Union (EU), with a focus on examining its role in cultivating Eurosceptic sentiments. The Schengen Area, a fundamental aspect of European integration, facilitates free movement among member states by abolishing border controls. However, despite their EU membership since 2007, the delayed accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen Area reveals unsolved concerns. The partial inclusion of both countries announced in December 2023 and implemented starting March 2024 highlighted complex dynamics between technical compliance and political factors. This scenario, further complicated by issues such as Romania’s border with Ukraine, has made the topic an important target for misleading narratives at the time.
In this context, by means of experimental designs conducted on representative samples from online panels in Romania (N=895) and Bulgaria (N=912) in February 2024, this research investigates how exposure to misleading narratives disseminated across diverse media types – mainstream, alternative, and social media – influences people’s attitudes towards the EU. Main findings reveal that disinformation contributes to an increase in Euroscepticism in both countries, with variations based on media type and national context. Specifically, results indicate that exposure to disinformation significantly heightens Eurosceptic attitudes. In Romania, this effect remains consistent across all types of media; however, in Bulgaria, the influence of mainstream media is more pronounced, possibly reflecting a greater level of trust in traditional media outlets. Furthermore, we observe no moderation effects: neither the perceived significance of the Schengen issue nor political ideology appear to influence the impact of disinformation narratives on Euroscepticism.
The present study emphasizes the significance of disinformation in influencing public opinion regarding EU-related issues, particularly in countries experiencing disputed Schengen accession processes, such as Romania and Bulgaria. These results correspond with prior investigations indicating that exposure to negative media narratives tends to amplify anti-EU sentiments. However, it reveals for the first time (to our knowledge) that disinformation concerning EU-related topics leads to more pronounced Eurosceptic sentiments. This, in turn, contributes to the existing body of literature on Euroscepticism.
Implications of these findings extend to policymakers, journalists, and media regulators. Combating disinformation requires context-specific strategies that are tailored to national media environments and audiences. For instance, fact-checkers and policymakers should prioritize creating targeted interventions to tackle disinformation narratives across all forms of media, not just social media, as mainstream media outlets are still widely regarded as trustworthy sources of information. Furthermore, politicians and public figures in both countries should also consider the broader impact of disinformation on public trust. Ideally, they should endeavor to cultivate open, reliable communication channels with citizens. Overall, this study contributes to understanding how disinformation shapes attitudes toward the European project in Romania and Bulgaria, emphasizing the critical need for robust countermeasures to foster informed and democratic public discourse.
This study has received funding from the European Union under Contract number: 101083730 — BROD.
