The More We Know, the More We Love: Laws of Elective Affinities between European Countries

Mutual trust among Europeans is a topic covered from its origin by the Eurobarometer series of surveys. Seminal works by Inglehart and Rabier showed that this mutual trust is an essential part of building of a European sense of “us” but also that it varies according to country. This sense of “us” is said by the academic literature to be an important aspect of diffuse support by citizens toward the EU. Unfortunately, few studies have been conducted on this question in the recent literature devoted to the analysis of the opinions of European citizens about Europe. Based on data from the most recent available Eurobarometer survey, this paper aims to show that sympathy felt for other European countries (the ex-EU-15) constitutes a good indicator of mutual trust and allows for an understanding of the historical, cultural, and territorial logics that underlie it. Elective affinity between groups of countries can also be uncovered from a geometric data analysis and from the use of gravity models proposed by political economics.