Dimensions of Euroscepticism Online

Reykjavík.
Next up at ECPR 2011 is Pieter de Wilde, whose focus is on Euroscepticism during the 2009 European Parliament elections. If I understand it correctly, this was examined by surveying a range of Websites discussing the elections, across a substantial number of member states.

Pieter’s project examined contestations of EU legitimacy, and developed three dimensions of contestation – contestation of core EU principles as such (such as European integration – which is challenged by a comparative minority of contributions to the debate), of EU polity (by which he means the European Union institutions set to deliver such principles – which are very widely criticised, across virtually all European nations), and of projects to address perceived shortcomings (where perceptions diverge widely).

Cooperation amongst EU members states is taken for granted and uncontested, then – but the institutional design of the EU is heavily criticised. Whether more or less EU is the appropriate answer to fix such perceived problems, however, remains unclear.