Original Article 183 Are the Czech or Slovak regions “closer to Europe”? Pro-Europeanness from a subnational perspective Martin Plešivčák* Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Economic and Social Geography, Demography and Territorial Development, Slovakia * Corresponding author:
[email protected] ABSTRACT Based on the 2003–2019 electoral data, this article evaluates the level of pro-Europeanness in Czechia and Slovakia at the regional and sub-regional levels during and after their EU accession period. The TOPSIS multi-criteria evaluation method and cluster analysis were used to quantify the pro-European levels and to create the subsequent categories of territorial units. The results show sup- port for the ideas of European integration primarily in large urban regions (Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Košice), territorial units with a higher concentration of ethnic minorities, larger scale agricultural activities (southwestern Slovakia), and a high degree of religiosity (northeastern Slovakia). The low level of pro-Europeanness was predominant in the less developed north-western Czechia and parts of Moravia. In Slovakia, the Eurosceptic regions were mostly located in the northwest, where the values of statism, egalitarianism and nationalism have a strong tradition. This approach can be used to identify areas of weak support for the EU project at a spatially disaggregated level in other EU countries. KEYWORDS Pro-Europeanness; TOPSIS method; EU referendum; European Parliament elections; subnational level; Czechia; Slovakia Received: 4 October 2019 Accepted: 16 July 2020 Published online: 30 September 2020 Plešivčák, M. (2020): Are the Czech or Slovak regions “closer to Europe”? Pro-Europeanness from a subnational perspective. AUC Geographica 55(2), 183–199 https://doi.org/10.14712/23361980.2020.13 © 2020 The Author.