Assessing the implications of EU enlargement for the existing Member States: the public opinion perspective

An examination of the implications of enlargement for the existing member states of the Union must include an assessment of the response of the mass of the citizens to the proposed enlargement and an assessment of what this response implies in terms of the challenge of consolidating the legitimacy of the Union. In order to provide the necessary background for a discussion of these issues, this paper begins with a brief survey of trends in attitudes to European integration, paying particular attention to indicators of the nature and quality of orientations to integration. It then deals with preferences regarding the enlargement process and the priority attached to it, with people's expectations of the consequences that enlargement will have, with the structure of preferences regarding the admission of a range of applicant and potential applicant countries and with the degree to which European publics have a sense of being on top of the issue and of participating in a debate about enlargement.