The project will examine trends since 1970 in the proportions of binational marriages between citizens of European Union countries and Switzerland. It will pay special attention to the nationalities of those entering these marriages. The goals of the demographic analysis will be to assess to what extent the European single market and the agreement on free movement of persons has contributed to an increase in binational marriages. In addition, it will attempt to determine to what extent changes in the proportion of binational marriages and the distribution of these marriages by nationality are driven by market processes (e.g. greater intra-European migration) and by social and cultural processes (e.g. affinity between citizens of specific nationalities). In addition, the project will examine to what extent being part of a binational marriage is associated with different orientations to European integration, a lowered sense of membership in the national community of origin, a stronger sense of belonging to Europe, and different lifestyles and worldviews.
The Swiss project is part of an international project called "Toward a European Society: Single Market, Binational Marriages, and Social Group Formation in Europe" (project leader: Juan Diez Medrano, Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals, Barcelona, Spain).
