European Solidarity among the Italian Diaspora

Abstract

European solidarity as a fundamental value of the EU assumed even more relevance in the last decades in the context of the various crises that hit the European continent. The impact of these crises affected public opinion on European solidarity and led to increased politicisation of the issue in national political arenas. The influence of EU issues on national politics has been explored concerning different aspects, especially their role in determining citizens' voting behaviour. Nevertheless, despite its relevance, European solidarity has been disregarded as a voting factor in national elections. This research aims to fill this gap by exploring how people's perceptions of European solidarity might affect their national vote. It focuses on the last 2022 Italian national elections and investigates the Italian diaspora's voting behaviour. It relies on brand-new data collected through a post-electoral survey designed to capture the attitudes towards European solidarity of Italians living in France, Belgium, and Germany. The survey results are put in relation to the parties' stances on European solidarity emerging from their electoral manifestos. The findings show that European solidarity plays a role in shaping the sample's voting behaviour. In particular, they indicate that showing high support for the issue...