Citizens and the European Union since 1950

Abstract

The article covers the relationship of the citizens with the European Union and its predecessors since the beginnings of the European integration in the 1950s. It dis­tinguishes the period of the unquestioned citizen during the 1950s and 1960s, the period of the questioned and mobilized citizen since the 1970s and the period of the active citizen since around the turn the of century, in looking at European elec­tions, referendums, European movements, interest organizations, regular European opinion polls, complaints by citizens at the European Parliament, at the European Commission and at the European ombudsman and legal proceedings by citizens at the European Court in Luxemburg. In addition, the article looks at the change be­tween periods of trust and periods of distrust by citizens in the European institu­tions since the 1950s. It argues that the trend towards the mobilized and active citi­zen includes an eventual strong rise of distrust in periods of crisis, but also by a return of trust by the citizens even in difficult periods such as the recent Covid19 pandemic.