IT IS DIFFERENT FROM INSIDE: PERCEPTIONS OF NATIONAL AND EUROPEAN IDENTITY IN THE 2004 EU NEW MEMBER STATES
IT IS DIFFERENT FROM INSIDE: PERCEPTIONS OF NATIONAL AND EUROPEAN IDENTITY IN THE 2004 EU NEW MEMBER STATES

Summary/Abstract: The 2004 enlargement meant the formal inclusion of 65 million citizens into the European Union. To what extent to they perceive themselves as Europeans and how did the identity attitudes transformed after the accession? To answer these questions this article focuses on eight new member states and uses individual level data from the 2002-2006 Candidate Countries and Standard Eurobarometers. The results are counterintuitive and show that accession acts as a catalyst for the national identity. The European identity loses ground starting with the accession year (and follows an irreversible trend), whereas the national identity grows stronger.

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