Love is often a key factor in migration decisions. Partner relationships and union formation have also been identified as forming an intrinsic part of intra-European migration. Nevertheless, empirical research into intra-European love migration remains rather scarce. In this paper, we focus on the often neglected but substantial intra-European moves. We analyse the relationship between bi-national couple formation, identification as a European and European transnational solidarity. The analyses are based on the EUMARR survey, investigating bi-national marriages in a unified Europe, comparing European bi-national and uni-national couples. In this paper, we focus on the Netherlands (n = 898) and compare Dutch–Dutch with Dutch–EU couples. Our findings indicate that bi-national couples are more likely to identify as European compared to uni-national couples, but this is not reflected in more solidarity to European countries in times of crisis. Implications of these findings are discussed in light of the European integration process.
AlbaRDNeeV (2003) Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
2.
AldrinP (2011) The Eurobarometer and the making of European opinion. In: GaxieDHubéNRowellJ (eds) Perceptions of Europe: A Comparative Sociology of European Attitudes, Colchester: ECPR Press, pp. 17–35.
3.
ArmingeonKCekaB (2014) The loss of trust in the European Union during the great recession since 2007: The role of heuristics from the national political system. European Union Politics15(1): 82–107.
4.
Beck-GernsheimE (2007) Transnational lives, transnational marriages: A review of the evidence from migrant communities in Europe. Global Networks7(3): 271–288.
5.
BlossfeldH-P (2009) Educational assortative marriage in comparative perspective. Annual Review of Sociology35(1): 513–530.
6.
CitrinJSidesJ (2004) More than nationals: How identity choices matters in the new Europe. In: HerrmannRKRisseTBrewerMB (eds) Transnational Identities. Becoming European in the EU, Lanham & Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 161–185.
7.
CohenSM (1977) Socioeconomic determinants of intraethnic marriage and friendship. Social Forces55(4): 997–1010.
8.
de ValkHAGDíez MedranoJ (2014) Guest editorial on meeting and mating across borders: Union formation in the European Union single market. Population, Space and Place20(2): 103–109.
9.
DeutschKWBurrellSAKannRA (1957) Political Community and the North Atlantic Area: International Organization in the Light of Historical Experience, New York: Princeton University Press.
10.
Díez MedranoJCortinaCSafranoffA (2014) Euromarriages in Spain: Recent trends and patterns in the context of European integration. Population, Space and Place20(2): 157–176.
11.
EpsteinGSLindner PomerantzR (2013) Assimilation through marriage. Review of International Economics21(2): 191–203.
12.
FeskensRHoxJLensvelt-MuldersG (2006) Collecting data among ethnic minorities in an international perspective. Field Methods18(3): 284–304.
13.
FligsteinN (2008) Euroclash. The EU, European Identity, and the Future of Europe, New York: Oxford University Press.
Gilmartin M and Migge B (2013) European migrants in Ireland: Pathways to integration. European Urban and Regional Studies. Epub ahead of print 7 February 2013. DOI: 10.1177/0969776412474583.
16.
GroenewoldG (2008) Sample design, TIES survey implementation and evaluation. In: CrulMHeeringL (eds) The Position of the Turkish and Moroccan Second Generation in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The TIES Study in the Netherlands, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 169–179.
17.
GroenewoldGLessard-PhillipsL (2012) Research methodology. In: CrulMSchneiderJLelieF (eds) The European Second Generation Compared. Does the Integration Context Matter?, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 39–56.
18.
HaandrikmanK (2014) Binational marriages in Sweden: Is there an EU effect?Population, Space and Place20(2): 177–199.
19.
HiekelN (2014) The Different Meanings of Cohabitation Across Europe. How Cohabiters View Their Unions and Differ in Their Plans and Behaviors, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
20.
HuntSABenfordRD (2004) Collective identity, solidarity, and commitment. In: SnowDASouleSAKriesiH (eds) The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, Malden/Oxford/Victoria: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 433–457.
21.
HwangS-SSaenzRAguirreBE (1997) Structural and assimilationist explanations of Asian American intermarriage. Journal of Marriage and Family59(3): 758–772.
22.
JenkinsR (2008) Social Identity, London & New York: Routledge.
23.
KainaVKarolewskiIP (2013) EU governance and European identity. Living Reviews in European Governance8(1): 1–59.
24.
KalmijnM (1998) Intermarriage and homogamy: Causes, patterns, trends. Annual Review of Sociology24(1): 395–421.
25.
KalmijnMTubergenF (2006) Ethnic intermarriage in the Netherlands: Confirmations and refutations of accepted insights. European Journal of Population/Revue européenne de Démographie22(4): 371–397.
26.
KasearuKKutsarD (2011) Patterns behind unmarried cohabitation trends in Europe. European Societies13(2): 307–325.
27.
KingR (2002) Towards a new map of European migration. International Journal of Population Geography8(2): 89–106.
28.
KingRRuiz-GelicesE (2003) International student migration and the European ‘Year Abroad’: Effects on European identity and subsequent migration behaviour. International Journal of Population Geography9(3): 229–252.
29.
KitanoHHLYeungW-TChaiL (1984) Asian-American interracial marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family46(1): 179–190.
30.
KlandermansPG (2014) Identity politics and politicized identities: Identity processes and the dynamics of protest. Political Psychology35(1): 1–22.
31.
KoeletSde ValkHWillaertD (2011) Huwen in het hart van Europa. Europese binationale huwelijken in België. Tijdschrift voor Sociologie32(3–4): 241–265.
32.
KuhnT (2012) Why educational exchange programmes miss their mark: Cross-border mobility, education and European identity. Journal of Common Market Studies50(6): 994–1010.
33.
LijphartA (1964) Tourist traffic and integration potential. Journal of Common Market Studies2(3): 251–262.
34.
LucassenLLaarmanC (2009) Immigration, intermarriage and the changing face of Europe in the post war period. The History of the Family14(1): 52–68.
35.
McPhersonMSmith-LovinLCookJM (2001) Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology27(1): 415–444.
36.
MahlerSJ (2001) Transnational relationships: The struggle to communicate across borders. Identities7(4): 583–619.
37.
MaiNKingR (2009) Love, sexuality and migration: Mapping the issue(s). Mobilities4(3): 295–307.
38.
MayerFCPalmowskiJ (2004) European identities and the EU – The ties that bind the peoples of Europe. Journal of Common Market Studies42(3): 573–598.
39.
MitchellK (2015) Rethinking the ‘Erasmus Effect’ on European identity. Journal of Common Market Studies53(2): 330–348.
40.
MuttarakRHeathA (2010) Who intermarries in Britain? Explaining ethnic diversity in intermarriage patterns. The British Journal of Sociology61(2): 275–305.
41.
NelsenBFGuthJL (2000) Exploring the gender gap: Women, men and public attitudes toward European integration. European Union Politics1(3): 267–291.
42.
NiedomyslTÖsthJvan HamM (2010) The globalisation of marriage fields: The Swedish case. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies36(7): 1119–1138.
43.
NissenS (2003) Who wants enlargement of the EU? Support for enlargement among elites and citizens in the European Union. Sociologický Časopis/Czech Sociological Review39(6): 757–772.
44.
Page MochL (2003) Moving Europeans. Migration in Western Europe since 1650, Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
45.
QianZLichterDT (2007) Social boundaries and marital assimilation: Interpreting trends in racial and ethnic intermarriage. American Sociological Review72(1): 68–94.
46.
QuintelierEVerhaegenSHoogheM (2014) The intergenerational transmission of European identity: The role of gender and discussion within families. Journal of Common Market Studies52(5): 1103–1119.
47.
RecchiESalamońskaJ (2014) Keeping the European faith. Collective identity before and after the Euro-Crisis. Partecipazione e Conflitto7(3): 509–531.
48.
RumfordC (2007) Introduction: Cosmopolitanism and Europe. In: RumfordC (ed.) Cosmopolitanism and Europe, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 1–15.
49.
SantacreuOBaldoniEAlbertMC (2009) Deciding to move: Migration projects in an integrating Europe. In: RecchiEFavellA (eds) Pioneers of European Integration. Citizenship and Mobility in the EU, Cheltenham & Northampton: Edward Elgar, pp. 52–71.
50.
SavvidesN (2006) Developing a European identity: A case study of the European school at Culham. Comparative Education41(6): 113–129.
51.
SchildeKE (2014) Who are the Europeans? European identity outside of European integration. Journal of Common Market Studies52(3): 650–667.
52.
SigalasE (2010) Cross-border mobility and European identity: The effectiveness of intergroup contact during the ERASMUS year abroad. European Union Politics11(2): 241–265.
ter WalJde MunnikSAndriessenI (2008) Turkish marriage migration to the Netherlands: Policy vs. migrants’ perspectives. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies6(3): 409–422.
58.
TimmermanCLodewyckxIWetsJ (2009) Marriage at the intersection between tradition and globalization: Turkish marriage migration between Emirdag and Belgium from 1989 to present. The History of the Family14(2): 232–244.
59.
van HuisM (2007) Partnerkeuze van allochtonen. Bevolkingstrends55(4): 25–31.
60.
Van MolC (2013) Intra-European student mobility and European identity: A successful marriage?Population, Space and Place19(2): 209–222.
61.
Van MolC (2014) Intra-European Student Mobility in International Higher Education Circuits: Europe on the Move, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
62.
van WissenLJGHeeringL (2014) Trends and patterns in Euro-marriages in the Netherlands. Population, Space and Place20(2): 126–138.
63.
VerwiebeR (2014) Why do Europeans migrate to Berlin? Social-structural differences for Italian, British, French and Polish nationals in the period between 1980 and 2002. International Migration52(4): 209–230.
64.
WilsonI (2011) What should we expect of ‘Erasmus Generations’?Journal of Common Market Studies49(5): 1113–1140.
65.
YodanisCLauerSOtaR (2012) Interethnic romantic relationships: Enacting affiliative ethnic identities. Journal of Marriage and Family74(5): 1021–1037.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
