European citizens seem not to care about the EU. Sociologist Frank Furedi in libertarian magazine Spiked argues that this apathy is the logical consequence of Brussels's “insulated decision-making process”, which reinforces the disconnect between EU officials and voters.

“Only 43% of the EU electorate bothered to vote last week,” writes Frank Furedi. While the EU’s political class presents this lack of interest as a problem of “presentation” and “public misperception, Furedi asserts that public disengagement is an outcome of “a project that distances political decision-making from the gaze of European citizens.” Most EU legislation is divised by democratically unaccountable working groups, he argues. “These public-free institutions bypass conventional forms of democratic accountability.” One unintended consequence of this is that European politicians fail “to motivate and inspire the electorate,” because they come across “as bureaucrats rather than political leaders.” This favours movements that are “able to politicise people’s anger and dissatisfaction towards conventional politics” So it is not surprising “that right-wing nationalist parties gained some momentum in countries such as Holland, Hungary, Austria, France and Poland.”