Framings of Europe among students of the University of Pécs

Abstract

Based on two surveys the paper examines the different framings of Europe among students of the University of Pécs (PTE). At first, it provides a literature review about young Hungarians’ perceptions of the European Union (EU) and Europeanness. This review summarizes the most relevant results and general tendencies, in order to give a contextual background to the interpretation of our primer surveys’ data. In our research we strived to explore the students’ framings of Europe in a complex and comprehensive way. So, we analyzed their perceptions of normative principles the EU should represent, as well as basic values should be attached to Europeanness. Then we examined the students’ general views on the EU, their interpretations about the historical relations between Europe and Hungary, as well as their identifications with the Hungarian government’s – mostly critical – EU-rhetoric. Based on our results it can be said that the PTE students’ framings of Europe are multilayered. They have generally favorable perceptions of the EU, yet at the same time their understandings on the European-Hungarian historical relationship are ambivalent, to some extent negative, while they have contradictory identifications with the government’s Europe-rhetoric.