The ‘European sovereignty’ narrative: More EU capacity, but less democracy? Citizens' perceptions in France and Belgium
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54195/plc.24877Keywords:
European Sovereignty, European Union, Political Narrative, France, BelgiumAbstract
As part of the growing academic interest in the reception of European narratives, our research explores the ‘European sovereignty narrative’ (ESN). We focus on two countries that represent different ways to relate to sovereignty: France, the archetypal ‘strong state’ advocating national sovereignty; and Belgium, a ‘weak state’ accustomed to pooling sovereignty. Based on a survey of a representative sample of the population, we ask: How is the ESN perceived by citizens in France and Belgium? We study, first, to what extent and how the ESN is perceived by citizens in France and Belgium. We focus, next, on its interpretation around two main meanings ascribed to sovereignty: political sovereignty, as the capacity to act, and popular sovereignty, as democratic accountability. Our results show that the knowledge, meanings, and priorities attributed to the ESN are comparable in both countries, albeit with nuances. French respondents are more familiar with the notion of (European) sovereignty than Belgian respondents due to its presence in national political culture and its extensive use by French politicians. However, they may find it less compatible with national sovereignty. Regarding the meaning of the ESN, ‘European sovereignty’ is more associated with the EU’s political capacity to act (political sovereignty) than with debates about democratic accountability and the capacity of citizens to express their preferences (popular sovereignty). We conclude that, while the ESN may find transnational common ground, its reception and interpretation are still filtered by national differences and disconnected from the democratic legitimisation of the EU.
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