Can Money buy Love? : The Impact of the Cohesion Policy of the European Union on European Identity

Abstract

This Master thesis explores the relationship between Cohesion policies of the EU and European identity. After first describing the history and context of Cohesion policies of the EU, the literature on European identity studies is reviewed. This discussion develops an economic utilitarian argument, that citizens in Europe develop their identification with the EU partly on rational considerations, and that the added quality of life provided by investments of the EU would positively influence their European identity. This effect is expected to be different throughout European regions.The hypothesesare tested in a quantitative analysis of Eurobarometer data and economic indicators of gross domestic products and Cohesion policy spending on a regional level. In a multilevel model, the effect of Cohesion policy on European identity is investigated through the period of 2000 –2014 on a regional and national level. The results suggest that Cohesion policy investments have a positive impact on the share of citizens, that identify both with their nation state and the European Union. At the same time, a negative effect of Cohesion policy investments on citizens who identify only with their national statecan be shown. This effect is very different between the member states of the EU, which suggest that in some countries,European identity underlies stronger economic utilitarian considerations thanin others.While the results are promising, the rigid quantitative method applied in this study creates some conceptual andmethodological problems with the findings.By looking at some separatist regions, the problem of third variables such as political ideologies or education is discussed,which relativizes the research results.Keywords:European Identity; Cohesion policy; European Union; Regional Policy, quantitativeMethods; Multilevel Modelling