Despite the stark voter turnout increase in 2019, the participation level in European Parliament elections is still considerably lower than in national elections. How can we explain this persistent ‘Euro gap’? This article analyzes the motivations of citizens who participate in national but not in European electoral contests, so-called ‘EU-only abstainers’. The empirical analysis based on the EES 2019 voter study reveals that EU-only abstention is driven by low levels of general political interest and EU-specific political sophistication, as well as by distrust towards EU institutions. Therefore, the Euro gap results from the widespread perception that there is ‘less at stake’ during EP elections, but it is also an aggregate-level consequence of individual Eurosceptic attitudes. These findings have important implications for our understanding of present-day European elections and the debate between the two most common theoretical approaches in EP election research.

尽管2019年选民的投票率明显增加，但欧洲议会选举的参选水平仍然大大低于全国选举。我们如何解释这种持续存在的“欧元差距”？本文分析了参加国家选举但不参加欧洲选举比赛的公民的动机，即所谓的“仅限欧盟弃权者”。基于EES 2019选民研究的实证分析表明，仅出于欧盟的弃权是由于普遍的政治利益和欧盟特定的政治技巧水平较低以及对欧盟机构的不信任所致。因此，欧元差距的产生是由于人们普遍认为欧洲议会选举期间“风险不大”，但这也是个别欧洲怀疑论者态度的综合结果。