Abstract
This chapter examines Dutch public opinion toward the European Union (EU) in a longitudinal perspective. From being a traditional core pro-European country, the Netherlands has recently experienced widespread euroscepticism that has become mainstream. The European Parliament (EP) 2014 elections witnessed this evolution. Yet, Dutch euroscepticism has previously been shown to consist of multiple dimensions. In this chapter, we revisit the dimensional structure of EU attitudes in the aftermath of the Eurozone Crisis. Using four-wave panel survey data from the Netherlands (2013–14), we show that indeed at the aggregate level there is stability in Dutch public opinion. The five-dimensional structure of EU attitudes still holds, while the increased importance of EU attitudes for voting behavior in EP elections is also highlighted.
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Notes
- 1.
Source: website of the European Parliament http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2014-results/ l
- 2.
Fieldwork dates were December 13–26, 2013, for the first wave, March 20–30, 2014, for the second wave, April 17–28, 2014, for the third wave, and May 26–June 2, 2014, for the fourth wave.
- 3.
In particular, this involved the negative affections dimension, as strong negative affections indicate unfavorable attitudes toward the EU. For the ease of interpretation, we reversed this scale.
- 4.
Complete CFA results are available on request.
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de Vreese, C., Azrout, R., Moeller, J. (2017). Netherlands 2014 EP Voting Patterns: From Euphile to Eurosceptic. In: Hassing Nielsen, J., Franklin, M. (eds) The Eurosceptic 2014 European Parliament Elections. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58696-4_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58696-4_8
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