The limits of diversity in European identity: exploring the communitarian logic of supranational identification in the EU through migration attitudes

Does supranational identification in Europe foster cosmopolitan openness or communitarian boundary-drawing? Existing research strongly indicates that European identification is positively associated with individual acceptance of international migration, suggesting cosmopolitan effects. Yet social identity theory posits an alternative logic: individuals who self-identify as Europeans should positively differentiate in-group members (other Europeans) from out-group members (non-Europeans), generating a relative preference for EU migrants over non-EU migrants, independent of their overall openness to migration. To test for the presence of such communitarian logic, I use recent Eurobarometer data for the EU-27. The analysis reveals that the communitarian effect is not uniform across European identifiers but is specifically activated by a primary national identity frame: those who combine national and European identification while retaining the nation as their primary frame of reference are indeed more likely to favour EU migrants over non-EU migrants, whereas those who identify primarily as European show no such tendency. These findings suggest that adding a supranational layer of identification to pre-existing national identities does not preclude supranational identity demarcation. They thereby challenge the prevailing normative understanding of European identity as inherently inclusive and suggest that a simple exclusive versus inclusive distinction may need to be revisited.