Better than it used to be? New evidence on the congruence between voters and the national MPs regarding the issue of European integration

The paper analyses the issue congruence between citizens and their national MPs in 15 EU member countries. The two broad issue dimensions that structure the European political space are distinguished: left vs. right and Euro¬pean national independence vs. integration. Based on INTUNE survey data from 2007/2008, the paper investigates the congruence of voters and elites on those dimensions. It concludes that the gap between Euro-positive elites and Euro-sceptical voters does no longer exist. Moreover, the antecedents of left-right and indepen-dence-integration attitudes are very similar both among citizens and political elites. There are two possible lessons to be drawn from this: one is methodological and suggests that earlier survey instruments were less than perfect. The other is substantial and argues that the politicisation of European integration in its post-functionalist era produces a fit between citizens and their representatives that is ‘better than it used to be’.