The Impact of COVID-19 on Public Support for the European Union (COVIDEU)

This project studies how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced EU support. We develop an innovative theoretical framework that combines insights from political behaviour, social psychology, and political communication. The core idea is that people compare national and EU responses and take cues from domestic governments, political parties and the media when forming opinions about the EU. We study the impact of the pandemic through six work packages that are clustered into three pillars. In the first pillar, we investigate how the policy measures adopted by national governments and EU institutions have affected Eurosceptic attitudes, European solidarity and the performance of Eurosceptic parties. In the second pillar, we examine how political actors, namely governments, political parties and social movements have influenced EU support. Finally, in pillar three, we study how media framing and fake news have influenced public support.