ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes an explanation for the observed loss of popular enthusiasm for European integration and towards European institutions articulated around two main explanatory factors. First, the negative aspects of the impact of globalization upon the European Union i.e. low growth, unemployment, inequalities. Second, the slow pace at which Europe is transforming from a mosaic of national societies into a geopolitical space that also includes European social actors. Over the past 40 years, European integration has run parallel to a broader process of market integration, often referred to as globalization. Whether and how European integration moves forward depends primarily on the will and coordinating capacity of the governments of the European Union Member States. The chapter focuses on the separation into national and European segments of three social groups broadly defined: the corporate class, the middle class and the working class.
