The?European?Union:?Cross?National?Variation?in?Public?Support,?1993?? ? ? Introduction?? ? The?European?Union?was?established?in?1951?with?the?adoption?of?the?European?Coal?and?Steel?Community.? Many?of?its?early?integrative?policies?were?technical?in?nature?and?received?little?attention?from?the?general? public.?Consequently,?a?permissive?consensus?developed?allowing?the?elite?to?pursue?the?ideals?established? by?the??European?Union??(EU)?(Eichenberg?and?Dalton?1993,?Gabel?and?Palmer?1995,?Gabel?1998).?In?time,? integrative?policies?became?increasingly?aggressive?in?their?scope?and?influence.?With?the?adoption?of?the? Single?European?Act?in?1985?and?the?Maastricht?Treaty?in?1991,?the?EU?began?dealing?forcefully?with?issues?