Euroscepticism in the European Parliament

Abstract

The development of anti-EU sentiment is one of the most important features of the integration process over the last two decades. The ongoing economic, political and migration crisis has provided fertile ground for the galvanization of oppositions to the EU. Euroscepticism has progressively become embedded at the national and supranational levels and is now part of the mainstream. This chapter aims at understanding Euroscepticism at the European level. The first section places Euroscepticism within a broader historical context through an up-to-date review of the literature. The next section reviews the main conceptualizations and their shortcomings before explaining how Euroscepticism is defined in the framework of this book. It is argued that Euroscepticism should be seen as an anti-system opposition. The final section empirically examines who the Eurosceptic MEPs are between 2004 and 2016.