Winners and losers? Citizens and sceptics? European integration and the spread of cosmopolitanism

Abstract

It has become a commonplace in discussion on Europe to argue that European integration most benefits elites and upper classes - people most likely to have international connections - while being of much less benefit to lower classes. This fact in turn is then linked to the widespread mistrust and (sometimes) hostility among ordinary citizens to the European project. Related to this, and which also threatens the integrity of the EU, is growing Euroscepticism in countries which are politically and economically important to the European project's success: notably the UK and Denmark, who have positioned themselves as outsiders to the core of much of the EU. The 7th Framework Program EUCROSS research project provides new data to re-examine these issues and offer suggestions to how European policy makers might make a more constructive case for the positive effects of European integration, including in more Eurosceptic countries.