Perceptions of the European Union’s Policy Impact: Europeanisation of Public Attitudes in Hungary

Abstract

This article investigates the perceptions of the European Union’s policy impact by revealing the Hungarian public’s awareness of the European Union’s domestic policy influence and its attitudes towards Europeanisation. The study is based on descriptive and regression analyses of cross-sectional survey data. With respect to general knowledge about the European Union, as well as knowledge about the competences of the European Union and the member states, we found that slightly more than a third of the respondents can be classified as well-informed. We observed indications of “wishful thinking” about Europeanisation, as there was a significant correlation between the perceived and desired levels of policy integration. Respondents were more likely to support the EU integration of those policies that are in fact Europeanised to a larger extent. Pro-government supporters and voters of right-wing identity have a lower probability of supporting EU integration of policies. Although the classic “referendum question” suggests that the public support of Hungary’s EU membership is stable, our results demonstrate that there are major limitations to the willingness of Hungarian society to support further integration and a policy favouring national sovereignty has strong roots in society. The divisions in society we found with respect to the distribution of policy competences between the European Union and Hungary lead us to conclude that the debates about the future of the European Union will likely continue to polarise Hungarian public opinion in the future.