It is a truism that not all citizens hold the same opinions when it comes to the European Union (EU), European collaboration, integration, the euro and more. That is rather logical. Why would they? The EU today covers a vast range of policy areas and it seems perfectly legitimate to support some initiatives more than others. Some citizens might be satisfied with how the EU operates, but do not feel that they reap the (economic) benefits, or vice versa.

In general terms, the past decades have seen a significant rise of Euroscepticism across many EU member countries. At the same time, support for pro-EU parties has also increased. This may seem contradictory, but it could also be a hint that EU attitudes can be mixed, ambivalent or multidimensional. We currently do not have a very good overview of how different dimensions of attitudes to the EU have developed over time. Most research was constrained to very limited indicators of public support in most public opinion surveys.