The empirical study described in this paper shows that during the 2008 crisis the Euroenthusiasm of national political elites underwent changes which relate to more general than idiosyncratic country characteristics. We reveal that, even though poor overall economic performance increased negative and decreased positive dimensions of EU framing, economic factors explain only a part of the story. Counter-intuitively, and as observed by (Teney 2016), the economic crisis of 2008 augmented certain aspects of national elites’ Euroenthusiasm, especially in the cases of the ongoing politicization of the EU (in WE), and of the enduring pragmatic pro-European orientation in CEE. Our findings also resonate with compelling emerging European research that demonstrates that the role of emotion should be a primary focus of attention. Moreover, the present research raises new research questions, regarding not only the (perceptions of and support for) the supranationalization of redistributive policies in the EU, but also the issues of foreign affairs and security policies, conceptualized along, on the one hand, shifting geopolitical concerns, and on the other, post-materialist considerations.
Methodologically, additional data would validate our research findings. In particular, and despite the fact that we do not have any significant reason to question the validity of elites’ answers that are pertinent to political culture, deeper study of national electoral party manifestos and the analysis of political discourse would help to better address the issue of national elites’
political partisanship and its relation to Euroenthusiasm. Such longitudinal, triangulated, comparative research, encompassing not only national political elites, but also ordinary citizens, may well substantiate the major findings of the present study, thereby highlighting persistent regional patterns of Europeanness.
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