Mainstreaming euroscepticism in European politics

Abstract

Anti-EU sentiment has been sweeping the continent recently. Since the beginning of the 1990s, Euroscepticism has been rising in national and European party politics, the European public opinion, national referendums as well as in the European media coverage sceptically criticising the European integration and its achievements. Under those conditions, when the EU is also suffering from an existential crisis, Euroscepticism has become much more mainstream in European politics. In this framework, this study discusses mainstreaming Euroscepticism at the levels of political parties, public and the media. It starts with the puzzle of contested meanings of Euroscepticism. Then, it unravels the complexity and diversity of opposition towards Europe by focusing on the typologies of Euroscepticism.Finally, it shows how Euroscepticism occupies a prominent space in European politics, society and media. Overall, the paper argues that Euroscepticism has become increasingly embedded in the mainstream political debates throughout Europe.

Keywords

• euroscepticism
• european integration
• european union
• european parliament elections