Euroskepticism

Euroskepticism, European political doctrine that advocates disengagement from the European Union (EU). Political parties that espouse a Euroskeptic viewpoint tend to be broadly populist and generally support tighter immigration controls in addition to the dismantling or streamlining of the EU bureaucratic structure.

Historical context

As the countries of western Europe began the process of rebuilding and rapprochement in the wake of World War II, political and economic integration was widely seen as the path to peaceful reconciliation between the former enemies. Supranational organizations such as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) provided the template for the European Economic Community (EEC), a free-trade bloc created by the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Over subsequent decades the membership of the EEC doubled to 12 countries, and trade within the customs union increased dramatically.

The steady progression toward the creation of a single organization to govern European security, economy, and social policy was checked abruptly in June 1992, when voters in Denmark rejected ratification of the Maastricht Treaty, the founding document of the EU. Months later, France—one of the original members of the EEC and home to EEC “founding fathers” Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman—just barely approved the treaty (with 51 percent of the vote in favour of ratification), a result that indicated that the political climate in western Europe had shifted. As the EU began its first round of expansion in 1994, national referenda were held in each of the candidate countries. In Norway, voters rejected the proposed accession. The electoral upsets in Scandinavia and the near-defeat of the Maastricht Treaty in France were signs of a growing tide of resistance against the EU, and political parties that advocated a Euroskeptic viewpoint achieved growing prominence.

The emergence of Euroskeptic parties

Broadly speaking, Euroskeptic political parties can be classified as “hard” Euroskeptics (those that express complete opposition to European integration and advocate withdrawal from the EU) and “soft” Euroskeptics (those that are conditionally in favour of European integration but qualify such support along political, ideological, ethnic, or geographic lines). The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) experienced growing popularity in the two decades following its founding in 1993, making it perhaps the most successful hard Euroskeptic party. Promoting an anti-immigration platform as well as British withdrawal from the EU, UKIP posted a string of impressive election results in the early 21st century, winning more than a dozen seats in the European Parliament in 2009 and capturing more than 100 local council seats in 2013. Although UKIP still remained outside the mainstream of national politics in the United Kingdom, its brand of hard Euroskepticism found supporters within elements of the Conservative Party, and British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to hold a national “in or out” referendum on British EU membership in 2017.

Soft Euroskeptic parties included Italy’s Northern League (Lega Nord), which advocated the creation of a new state that would include Italy’s wealthier northern regions and the return of the lira. Both UKIP and the Northern League served in the European Parliament as members of the Europe of Freedom & Democracy group. Other Euroskeptic parties included the National Front in France and the Dutch Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid; PVV). Although the National Front and the PVV were known primarily for promoting anti-immigration and anti-Islamic policies, both were quick to capitalize on populist sentiment in the wake of the euro-zone debt crisis. In November 2013 National Front leader Marine Le Pen and PVV leader Geert Wilders announced an alliance of their parties in advance of the 2014 European Parliament elections.

Those elections, held in May 2014, were described as an “earthquake” by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Although mainstream centre-left and centre-right parties continued to hold a majority of the 751 seats in the EU’s legislative body, Euroskeptic parties posted huge gains. Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement finished second in Italy, the far-right Jobbik party performed well in Hungary, and the soft Euroskeptic Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) topped the polls in Greece. Most significant were the results in France and the United Kingdom, however. Le Pen’s National Front won a national election for the first time in the party’s history, and Nigel Farage led UKIP to the top of the polls in Britain. EU stalwarts took solace from strong performances by mainstream parties in Germany, Spain, and Portugal, and the PVV finished below expectations in the Netherlands. Still, the polls marked a significant moment in EU history. Tighter European integration, once seen as the inevitable progression of the EU as a political and economic body, was no longer a foregone conclusion. This point would become especially clear in the United Kingdom.

In an attempt to address rising Euroskeptic sentiment, British Prime Minister David Cameron sought to redefine Britain’s relationship with the EU. Cameron outlined his goals in a letter to European Council Pres. Donald Tusk in November 2015, and an agreement was reached in February 2016. Cameron was broadly successful in achieving his goal of a “new settlement” for Britain, and he scheduled a referendum on the United Kingdom’s continued membership in the EU for June 2016. As Europe struggled with an ongoing migrant crisis and a series of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL; Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS])-sponsored terrorist attacks, Britain’s revised status within the EU seemed to do little to stem the tide of Euroskepticism in the United Kingdom. On June 23, 2016, some 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the EU. Euroskeptic parties across the continent seized on the victory, vowing to hold referenda on EU membership in their own countries.