Euroscepticism and the future of the EU
Euroscepticism – or sceptical and negative public attitudes towards the EU – has been in the political and academic spotlight across Europe for more than a decade. But despite its pan-European reach, there is growing consensus that Euroscepticism differs markedly both across countries and social groups, and over time.
This year, a key election year for the EU, and the year of Brexit, keeping up-to-date with the different dimensions and explanations of Euroscepticism, and the underlying causes of people’s preferences towards European integration, will be key to understanding the political battles that lie ahead.
In this mini-conference organized by the University of York and Think Tank EUROPA, scholars of Euroscepticism and Neuropolitics will present their latest findings and discuss the implications for the future of the EU: What are the key drivers of Euroscepticism? How to understand the impact of recent crises in the EU on public attitudes? And how are emotions, such as anxiety or indifference, influencing people’s preferences towards European integration?
Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Anders Samuelsen, will close the conference with a key-note speech reflecting on the future of the union.
Registration: Join us to discuss Euroscepticism and the future of the EU
PROGRAMME:
- 14:00 Welcome
- 14:05: Dimensions and explanations of Euroscepticism
Chair: Maja Kluger Dionigi, Senior Researcher, Think Tank EUROPA
Presenters:
- Isabell Hoffmann, Senior Expert, Bertelsmann Stiftung
- Liisa Talving, Associate Lecturer, University of York
- Karsten Tingleff Vestergaard, PhD-student, Think Tank EUROPA
Opening the discussion: Mads Dagnis Jensen, Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School
- 15:25: Coffee and cake
- 15:40: Emotions and Euroscepticism
Chair: Bjarke Møller, Director, Think Tank EUROPA
Presenters:
- Sofia Vasilopoulou, Senior Lecturer, University of York
- Claire Llewellyn, Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh
- Catharina Sørensen, Head of research, Think Tank EUROPA
Opening the discussion: Steen Gade, Director General, Nyt Europa
- 17:00: Key-note speech by Anders Samuelsen, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 17:15: Q/A
- 17:30-18:30: The discussions continue over a glass of wine
Location: CBS, Flintholm, auditorium FH_B, Stig Lommers Plads 2, 2000 Frederiksberg
Speaker bios:
Isabell Hoffmann founded eupinions, an independent platform for European public opinion, in 2015 as a project of Bertelsmann Stiftung in cooperation with Catherine de Vries of Essex University and Nico Jaspers of Dalia Research. As an expert researcher on democracy and legitimacy in the European Union, she has managed research projects on the role of national parliaments in the EU as well as the origins and impact of populism, nationalism and authoritarianism in Europe. Isabell studied political science and economics at the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). Before joining Bertelsmann Stiftung in 2008, she worked as a political editor for the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit.
Steen Gade is Director General of the Danish NGO Nyt Europa, which promotes a sustainable and democratic EU. He is a former member of the Danish Parliament for the Socialist People’s Party for more than 25 years. His career includes a spell at the presidium of the Danish Parliament, and the position as director of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.
Mads Dagnis Jensen, PhD, is associate professor at the Copenhagen Business School, specializing in research within comparative political economy. Specifically, he examines variation between western democracies when it comes to institutions (polity), political actors (politics) and regulations (policy). His primary research areas include institutions and policy processes in the European Union with emphasis on market integration, Euroscepticism and Brexit.
Claire Llewellyn, PhD, is Research Fellow within the Neuropolitics Research Lab with the School of Political and Social Science at the University of Edinburgh, where she is currently analyzing the Social Media reaction to the 2016 UK-EU referendum. Her research interests also include the Neuropolitics of identity, Social media, Big data, Natural language processing, and Text and data analytics.
Anders Samuelsen is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark since 2016, and member of the Danish Parliament for the Liberal Alliance.
Catharina Sørensen, PhD, is Head of Research at Think Tank EUROPA, where she regularly conducts surveys on Danish public opinion. She has a combined research/civil service professional background, having also worked for the European Commission, the European External Action Service, and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has done work on the multidimensionality of public EU-attitudes since 2004, with a current focus on sovereignty-based euroscepticism.
Liisa Talving is an Associate Lecturer in Politics at the University of York. She holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Tartu, Estonia. Her research interests are determinants of citizens’ political behavior and political attitudes, cross-country comparative research with a regional focus on Europe, and quantitative research methods. Her existing work focuses on EU attitudes and economic voting. She is currently involved in the project ‘Euroscepticism: dimensions, causes and consequences in times of crisis’, studying public attitudes towards the EU and its policies during the Great Recession and the Eurozone crisis.
Sofia Vasilopoulou (PhD LSE) is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of York. Her work examines political dissatisfaction with democracy and democratic institutions across Europe. Specific themes include Euroscepticism, extremism and loss of faith in traditional politics. She currently leads an ESRC Future Leaders Project entitled ‘Euroscepticism: dimensions, causes and consequences in times of crisis’.
Karsten Tingleff Vestergaard is PhD-student at Think Tank EUROPA and the University of Copenhagen. His research examines the structural and individual-level factors impacting the development of EU-wide Euroscepticism. Karsten has previously worked with quantitative analysis of economic and political issues at the consultancy Advice and contributed to the University of Copenhagen’s large election research projects on attitude-formation and voting behaviour.