Současná Evropa 2018, 2018(2):4-21

Is European Identity in Germany Changing? Shifts in Public Opinion and Impacts of the Eurozone Crisis

Daniel Knýa
a Ing. Bc. Daniel Kný, Ph.D., A Ph.D. graduate at the Department of political science at the University of Economics in Prague, Faculty of International Relations, where he worked as a research assistant too.

Keywords: krize eurozóny, Německo, evropská identita, národní identita, komplementarita

The main research questions of this contribution are whether the Eurozone crisis has led to decline or rise in European identity in Germany and to any substantial changes in the complementarity of national and European dimensions of German collective identity. The research presented in this article is based on the quantitative data from attitudinal surveys and their proper interpretation following from the set of statistical analyses (logistic regression, crosstabulation) and from the description of various indicators´ development in time. I conclude that there was no change in tendency neither with regard to strengthening nor weakening of European identity (and its complementarity with national identity) in Germany observable as a result of the crisis. This is despite the fact that the support for membership declined moderately and temporarily, while the trust in the EU, the European Central Bank and positive perception of the EU´s crisis performance collapsed more seriously and pervasively.

Keywords: Eurozone crisis, Germany, European identity, national identity, complementarity

Published: December 3, 2020  Show citation

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Kný, D. (2018). Is European Identity in Germany Changing? Shifts in Public Opinion and Impacts of the Eurozone Crisis. Contemporary Europe, 2018(2), 4-21
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