ABSTRACT
This essay investigates the pragmatic and symbolic aspects of elites’ views about European integration. The pragmatic aspect includes general support for unification and attitudes to supranational redistribution. By the symbolic aspect we mean how elites conceive their European attachment and identification. Elite members—top decision makers—are approached here in operational terms as members of the national parliaments and leaders of the largest banks and enterprises. First we describe the views of political and economic elites in 18 European countries on support for unification of the European Union (EU), supranational redistribution, attachment and identity formation. Second, we are interested in how these variables are intertwined within and between pragmatic and symbolic aspects of integration. Third, we investigate how symbolic aspects influence pragmatic ones if we control for countries and cultural resources of elites. In other words at this point we are interested in how the symbolic attitudes of elites influence their pragmatic views about integration.
