‘A nation of vicars and merchants’: religiosity and Dutch MEPs

Abstract

Religion is a major driving force in the Dutch political system and as European integration has progressed, it is often argued that these national practices affect how national representatives act in the European Parliament (EP). Our aim in this study is to determine to what extent the religious divide impacts upon the work of Dutch MEPs in the European political arena. On the basis of the RelEP survey and interviews, we argue that religious or secular views are very salient to Dutch MEPs, but that their impact is largely indirect. Moreover, we find that Dutch MEPs actively use the EP and its committee system in an attempt to redefine the relationship between church and state in the Netherlands. And finally, we argue that the European arena offers new opportunities for mobilisation among those promoting secularist interests.

Keywords:

• The Netherlands
• European Parliament
• religiosity
• consociationalism
• political parties
• RelEP

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Didier Caluwaerts

Didier Caluwaerts is a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and a Democracy Fellow at the Harvard Ash Center.

Pieter-Jan De Vlieger

Pieter-Jan De Vlieger works at the Department of Education and Training of the Flemish administration (Vlaamse Overheid) and is affiliated to the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Silvia Erzeel

Silvia Erzeel is an F.R.S.-FNRS postdoctoral researcher (chargée de recherches) at the Institut de Sciences Politiques Louvain-Europe of the Université Catholique de Louvain, and a visiting scholar at Brown University.