Euroscepticism

This article is about opposition to or scepticism on the European Union. For negative sentiment towards people of European descent, seeAnti-Europeanism.

Percentage responding that their country on balance benefited from being a member of the EU atEurobarometer2023:

91–100%

81–90%

71–80%

61–70%

51–60%

Euroscepticism,also spelled asEuroskepticismorEU-scepticism,is a political position involving criticism of theEuropean Union(EU) andEuropean integration.It ranges from those who oppose someEU institutionsand policies and seek reform (Eurorealism,Eurocritical,orsoft Euroscepticism), to those who opposeEU membershipand see the EU as unreformable (anti-European Unionism,anti-EUism,orhard Euroscepticism).The opposite of Euroscepticism is known aspro-Europeanism.

The main drivers of Euroscepticism have been beliefs that integration undermines nationalsovereigntyand thenation state,that the EU iselitistandlacks democratic legitimacyandtransparency,that it is toobureaucraticand wasteful,that it encourages high levels ofimmigration,or perceptions that it is aneoliberalorganisation serving thebig businesselite at the expense of theworking class,that it is responsible forausterity,and drivesprivatization.

Euroscepticism is found in groups across thepolitical spectrum,bothleft-wingandright-wing,and is often found inpopulistparties.Although they criticise the EU for many of the same reasons, Euroscepticleft-wing populistsfocus more on economic issues, such as theEuropean debt crisisand theTransatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership,while Euroscepticright-wing populistsfocus more on nationalism and immigration, such as the2015 European migrant crisis.The rise inradical-rightparties since the 2000s is strongly linked to a rise in Euroscepticism.

Eurobarometersurveys of EU citizens show that trust in the EU and its institutions declined strongly from 2007 to 2015.In that period, it was consistently below 50%.A 2009 survey showed that support for EU membership was lowest in theUnited Kingdom(UK),Latvia,andHungary.By 2016, the countries viewing the EU most unfavourably were the UK,Greece,France,andSpain.The2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendumresulted in a 51.9% vote in favour of leaving the EU (Brexit), a decision that came into effect on 31 January 2020.

Since 2015, trust in the EU has risen in most EU countries as a result of falling unemployment rates and the end of the migrant crisis.A post-2019 electionEurobarometer survey showed that 68% of citizens support the EU, the highest level since 1983; however, sentiment that things are not going in the right direction in the EU had increased to 50%.Trust in the EU had increased significantly at the beginning of theCOVID-19 pandemicwith levels varying across member states.

Reasoning

The main reasons for Euroscepticism include beliefs that:

• integration undermines nationalsovereigntyand thenation state;
• the EU iselitistandlacks democratic legitimacyandtransparency;
• the EU is toobureaucraticand wasteful;
• it encourages high levels ofimmigration;
• it is aneoliberalorganisation serving thebig businesselite at the expense of theworking class
• the EU is responsible forausterity;
• the EU is responsible for drivingprivatization.

Terminology

There can be considered to be several different types of Eurosceptic thought, which differ in the extent to which adherents reject integration between member states of theEUand in their reasons for doing so. Aleks Szczerbiak and Paul Taggart described two of these as hard and soft Euroscepticism.At the same time, some scholars have said that there is no clear line between the presumed hard and soft Euroscepticism.Cas Muddeand Petr Kopecky have said that if the demarcation line is the number of and which policies a party opposes, then the question arises of how many must a party oppose and which ones should a party oppose that makes them hard Eurosceptic instead of soft.

Hard Euroscepticism

The flag of the "EUSSR" is a common trope among right-wing hard Eurosceptics who seek to compare the European Union to theSoviet Union.

According to Taggart and Szczerbiak, hard Euroscepticism, or anti-EU-ism,is "a principled opposition to the EU and European integration and therefore can be seen in parties who think that their countries should withdraw from membership, or whose policies towards the EU are tantamount to being opposed to the whole project of European integration as it is currently conceived".TheEurope of Freedom and Direct Democracygroup in theEuropean Parliament(2014–2019) displayed hard Euroscepticism, but following the 2019 EU elections the group was disbanded due to too few members, as its largest member, the BritishBrexit Party,withdrew ahead of the United Kingdom's formal exit from the EU.

Some hard Eurosceptics regard their position as pragmatic rather than in principle. Additionally,Tony Benn,a left-wingLabour PartyMP who fought againstEuropean integrationin 1975 by opposing membership of theEuropean Communitiesinthat year's referendum on the issue,emphasised his opposition toxenophobiaand his support ofdemocracy,saying: "My view about the European Union has always been not that I am hostile to foreigners, but that I am in favour of democracy.... I think they're building an empire there, they want us to be a part of their empire and I don't want that."

The Czech presidentVáclav Klausrejected the termEuroscepticismfor its purported negative undertones, saying at a meeting in April 2012 that the expressions for a Eurosceptic and their opponent should be "a Euro-realist" and someone who is "Euro-naïve", respectively.François Asselineauof the FrenchPopular Republican Unionhas criticised the use of the term 'sceptic' to describe hard Eurosceptics, and would rather advocate the use of the term "Euro opponent".He believes the use of the term 'sceptic' for soft Eurosceptics to be correct, since other Eurosceptic parties in France are "merely criticising" the EU without taking into account the fact that theTreaty of Romecan only be modified with a unanimous agreement of all the EU member states, something he considers impossible to achieve.

Soft Euroscepticism

Soft Euroscepticism reflects a support for the existence of, and membership of, a form of EU but with opposition to specific EU policies, or in Taggart's and Szczerbiak's words, "where there is NOT a principled objection to European integration or EU membership but where concerns on one (or a number) of policy areas lead to the expression of qualified opposition to the EU, or where there is a sense that 'national interest' is currently at odds with the EU's trajectory."

Both theEuropean Conservatives and Reformists Group,dominated by the right-wing Polish partyLaw and Justice,and theEuropean United Left–Nordic Green Left,which is an alliance of the left-wing parties in the European Parliament, display soft Euroscepticism. The European Conservatives and Reformist Group does not itself use the descriptions Euroscepticism or soft Euroscepticism and instead describes its position as one of Eurorealism, a distinction described by Leruth as being one that is "quite subtle but should not be ignored" given the association of the term Euroscepticism with "European disintegration". Leruth describes Eurorealism as "a pragmatic, anti-federalist, and flexible vision of European integration where the principle of subsidiarity prevails, aiming to reform the current institutional framework to extend the role of national parliaments in the decision-making process." Steven states that "Eurorealism is a form of conservativism, first and foremost, rather than a form or Euroscepticism, even if it obviously very much also has the 'soft' Eurosceptic tendencies which are present in a number of ECR member parties.">

Anti-Europeanism

Main article:Anti-Europeanism

While having some overlaps, Euroscepticism andanti-Europeanismare different. Euroscepticism is criticism of theEuropean Union(EU) andEuropean integration.Anti-Europeanism is sentiment or policies in opposition toEurope.For example,American exceptionalismin the United States has long led to criticism of Europeandomestic policy,such as the size of thewelfare statein European countries,andforeign policy,such as European countries that did not support the US-led2003 invasion of Iraq.

Other terms

Some scholars consider the gradual difference in terminology between hard and soft Euroscepticism inadequate to accommodate the large differences in terms of political agenda;hard Euroscepticismhas also been referred to asEurophobiaas opposed to mereEuroscepticism.Other alternative names for hard and soft Euroscepticism includewithdrawalistandreformist,respectively.

Eurobarometer surveys

A survey in November 2015,conducted byTNSOpinion and Social on behalf of theEuropean Commission,showed that, across the EU as a whole, those with a positive image of the EU were down from a high of 52% in 2007 to 37% in autumn 2015; this compares with 23% with a negative image of the EU, and 38% with a neutral image.About 43% of Europeans thought things were "going in the wrong direction" in the EU, compared with 23% who thought things were going "in the right direction" (11% "don't know" ).About 32% of EU citizens tend to trust the EU as an institution, and about 55% do not tend to trust it (13% "don't know" ).Distrust of the EU was highest inGreece(81%),Cyprus(72%),Austria(65%),France(65%), theUnited Kingdom(UK) and theCzech Republic(both 63%). Overall, more respondents distrusted their own government (66%) than they distrusted the EU (55%). Distrust of national government was highest in Greece (82%),Slovenia(80%),Portugal(79%), Cyprus (76%), and France (76%).

A Eurobarometer survey carried out four days prior to and six days after the2016 United States presidential electionrevealed that the surprise victory ofDonald Trumpcaused an increase in the popularity of the EU in Europe. The increase was strongest among the political right and among respondents who perceived their country as economically struggling.

A survey carried out in April 2018 for the European Parliament by Kantar Public consulting found that support for the EU was "the highest score ever measured since 1983". Support for the EU was up in 26 out of 28 EU countries, the exceptions being Germany and the UK, where support had dropped by about 2% since the previous survey. Almost half (48%) of the 27,601 EU citizens surveyed agreed that their voice counted in the EU, up from 37% in 2016, whereas 46% disagreed with this statement. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents felt that their country had benefited from EU membership and 60% said that being part of the bloc was a good thing, as opposed to 12% who felt the opposite. At the height of the EU's financial and economic crises in 2011, just 47% had been of the view that EU membership was a good thing. Support for EU membership was greatest inMalta(93%),Ireland(91%),Lithuania(90%),Poland(88%),Luxembourg(88%),Estonia(86%), andDenmark(84%), and lowest inGreece(57%),Bulgaria(57%),Cyprus(56%),Austria(54%), theUnited Kingdom(53%), andItaly(44%).

When asked which issues should be a priority for the European Parliament, survey respondents picked terrorism as the most pressing topic of discussion, ahead of youth unemployment and immigration. Not all countries shared the same priorities. Immigration topped the list in Italy (66% of citizens surveyed considered it a priority issue), Malta (65%), andHungary(62%) but fighting youth unemployment and support for economic growth were top concerns inSpain,Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, andCroatia.Social protection of citizens was the top concern for Dutch, Swedish, and Danish respondents.

The April 2019Eurobarometershowed that despite the challenges of the past years, and in cases such as the ongoing debate surrounding Brexit, possibly even because of it, the European sense of togetherness had not weakened, with 68% of respondents across the EU27 believing that their countries have benefited from being part of the EU, a historically high level since 1983. On the other hand, more Europeans (27%) were uncertain and saw the EU as "neither a good thing nor a bad thing", an increase in 19 countries. Despite the overall positive attitude towards the EU but in line with the uncertainty expressed by a growing number of Europeans, the feeling that things were not going in the right direction in both the EU and in their own countries had increased to 50% on EU average since September 2018.

The Eurobarometer 93.1 survey was in the field across Europe when theEuropean Councilsummit reached political agreement on a pandemic economic recovery fund (later namedNext Generation EU) on 21 July 2020. A comparison of Eurobarometer responses gathered before this seminal decision and interviews conducted shortly thereafter indicates that the European Council's endorsement of pandemic economic relief increased popular support of COVID-19 economic recovery aid - but only among Europeans who view EU decisionmakers as trustworthy.

General public image of EU by country according toEurobarometer2024:

Country	Positive %	Neutral %	Negative %
Austria	38	34	27
Belgium	47	33	20
Bulgaria	53	28	18
Croatia	53	34	13
Cyprus	39	40	21
Czech Republic	35	35	30
Denmark	59	31	9
Estonia	43	41	15
Finland	49	40	10
France	33	38	28
Germany	42	41	17
Greece	38	37	25
Hungary	42	42	16
Ireland	66	24	10
Italy	44	40	16
Latvia	44	45	10
Lithuania	58	35	6
Luxembourg	54	29	16
Malta	39	45	16
Netherlands	56	29	15
Poland	54	33	13
Portugal	68	26	5
Romania	46	39	14
Slovakia	44	34	22
Slovenia	37	46	16
Spain	42	44	13
Sweden	55	33	12

History in the European Parliament

1999–2004

A study analysed voting records of the Fifth European Parliament and ranked groups, concluding:"Towards the top of the figure are the more pro-European parties (PES, EPP-ED, and ALDE), whereas towards the bottom of the figure are the more anti-European parties (EUL/NGL, G/EFA, UEN and EDD)."

2004–2009

In 2004, 37Members of the European Parliament(MEPs) from the UK,Poland,DenmarkandSwedenfounded a new European Parliament group called "Independence and Democracy"from the oldEurope of Democracies and Diversities(EDD) group.

The main goal of the ID group was to reject the proposedTreaty establishing a constitution for Europe.Some delegations within the group, notably that from UKIP, also advocated the complete withdrawal of their country from the EU, while others only wished to limit further European integration.

2009 elections

Theelections of 2009saw a significant fall in support in some areas for Eurosceptic parties, with all such MEPs from Poland, Denmark and Sweden losing their seats. In the UK, the Eurosceptic UKIP achieved second place in the election, finishing ahead of the governing Labour Party, and theBritish National Party(BNP) won its first-ever two MEPs. Although new members joined the ID group from Greece and theNetherlands,it was unclear whether the group would reform in the new parliament.

The ID group did reform, as theEurope of Freedom and Democracy(EFD) and is represented by 32 MEPs from nine countries.

2014 elections

Theelections of 2014saw a big anti-establishment vote in favour of Eurosceptic parties, which took around a quarter of the seats available. Those that came first their national elections included: UKIP in the UK (the first time since 1906 that a party other than Labour or the Conservatives had won a national vote), theNational Frontin France, thePeople's Partyin Denmark andSyrizain Greece. Second places were taken bySinn Féinin Ireland and theFive Star Movementin Italy.Herman Van Rompuy,thePresident of the European Council,agreed following the election to re-evaluate the economic area's agenda and to launch consultations on future policy areas with the 28 member states.

2019 elections

Theelections of 2019saw the centre-left and centre-right parties suffer significant losses including losing their overall majority, whilegreen,pro-EUliberal, and some Eurosceptic right wing parties saw significant gains.Those that came first in their national elections included: theBrexit Partyin the UK (which was only launched on 12 April 2019 by former UKIP leaderNigel Farage), theNational Rallyof France (formerly the National Front party until June 2018),Fideszin Hungary,Legain Italy, andLaw and Justicein Poland. There were also notable falls in support for theDanish People's Party(previously topped the 2014 European election). WhilstVoxgot elected with 3 seats, Spain's first Eurosceptic party and Belgium'sVlaams Belangrallied to gain second place after its poor 2014 result.

2024 elections

In theelections of 2024,24 EU countries elected at least one member of a Eurosceptic group (European Conservatives and Reformists Group,Patriots for EuropeorEurope of Sovereign Nations). The three exceptions wereIreland,MaltaandSlovenia.

In EU member states

See also:2015 European migrant crisis

Austria

Heinz-Christian Strache,former leader of the Austrian hard Eurosceptic partyFPÖ

TheFreedom Party of Austria(FPÖ), established in 1956, is a right-wing populist party that mainly attracts support from young people and workers.In 1989, it changed its stance over the EU to Euroscepticism. It opposed Austria joining the EU in 1994, and opposed the introduction of theeuroin 1998. The party would like to leave the EU if it threatens to develop intoa country,or ifTurkeyjoins. The FPÖ received 20–27% of the national vote in the 1990s, and more recently received 18% in 2008. Following the2017 Austrian legislative election,it has 51/183 National Council seats, 16/62 Federal Council seats, and 4/19 European Parliament seats.

TheBündnis Zukunft Österreich(BZÖ), established in 2005, is a socially conservative party that has always held Eurosceptic elements. In 2011 the party openly supported leaving theeurozone,and in 2012 it announced that it supported a full withdrawal from the European Union.The party has also called upon a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.In polls it generally received around 10–15%, although in one state it did receive 45% of the vote in 2009. Since the 2017 election, it has 0/183 National Council seats, 0/62 Federal Council seats, and 0/19 European Parliament seats.

Team Stronach,established in 2012, has campaigned to reform the European Union, as well as to replace the euro with an Austrian Euro. In 2012, it regularly received 8–10% support in national polls.Politicians from many different parties (including the Social Democratic Party and the BZÖ) as well as previous independents switched their allegiances to the new party upon creation.In two local elections in March 2013, it won 11% of the vote inCarinthia,and 10% of the vote inLower Austria.It dissolved in 2017.

Ewald Stadler,a former member of FPÖ (and later of BZÖ) was very Eurosceptic, but in 2011 became a member of the European Parliament due to the Lisbon Treaty. Before Stadler accepted the seat, this led to heavy critics by Jörg Leichtfried (SPÖ) "Stadler wants to just rescue his political career" because Stadler before mentioned he would never accept a seat as MEP if this was only due to the Lisbon Treaty.On 23 December 2013 he founded a conservative and Eurosceptic party calledThe Reform Conservatives,although it has been inactive since June 2016.

In the2014 European Parliament election,the FPÖ increased its vote to 19.7% (up 7.0%), gaining 2 new MEPs, making a total of 4; the party came third, behind the ÖVP and the SPÖ. EU-STOP (the electoral alliance of theEU Withdrawal Partyand theNeutral Free Austria Federation) polled 2.8%, gaining no seats, and theReform Conservatives1.2%, with Team Stronach putting up no candidates.

In the2019 European Parliament election,the FPÖ came 3rd with 17.2% of the vote which was only slightly down on 2014 despite a scandal allegedly promising public contracts to a woman posing as a Russian backer. This precipitated the collapse of the ruling coalition and a new election being called.

Belgium

According toEurostat,in the fall of 2018, 44% of Belgians stated that they did not trust theEuropean Union.The main Eurosceptic party inBelgiumis the right-wingVlaams Belangwhich is active in theDutch-speakingpart of Belgium, however the left-wingPTB-PVDAalso opposes the EU on many issues, primarily austerity and social policy.In the2014 European Parliament election,Vlaams Belang lost over half of its previous vote share, polling 4.3% (down 5.5%) and losing 1 of its 2 members of the European Parliament.Despite the presence of Eurosceptic parties in Belgium, their weight is relatively low, as Belgium is predominantlyEuropeanist.

In 2019, Vlaams Belang stated in its programfor the2019 European Parliament electionthat it opposes the creation of a European state, would like to change theEconomic and Monetary Union of the EU,and to end theSchengen Area,and refuses the accession ofTurkeyto the EU. More widely, the euro-sceptic arguments of the Vlaams Belang are based on four pillars:

1. loss ofsovereignty(for instance on economic sovereignty or on the binding legal order);
2. the financial cost of theEuropean Union;
3. less competences forEuropean Union;
4. leaving theeuro(even though in 2019 the party has changed its line and now wants to reform the euro).During the2019 European Parliament election in Belgium,Vlaams Belang made substantial gains in both and polled in second place in Flemish region. At the beginning of 2019, the party was enrolled in the group ofEuropean Alliance of People and Nationsin theEuropean Parliament.

TheNew Flemish Alliance(N-VA) is a soft Eurosceptic party in the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. Before 2010, the N-VA waspro-Europeanand supported the idea of a democratic European confederation, but has since altered this policy to a more sceptical stance on further European integration and now calls for more democratic transparency within the EU, changes to the EU's common asylum policy and economic reforms to theEurozone.The N-VA has obtained 26.8% of the votes or 4 seats of the Dutch-language college out of 12 (21 MEPs for Belgium) in the2014 European Parliament election.In April 2019, it stood inEuropean Conservatives and Reformists Groupof the European Parliament, and can be considered a moderate Eurosceptic party.

In the French-speaking part of Belgium (Walloons), there are four Eurosceptic parties. The first one isNation Movement,a far-right party which was a member of theAlliance for Peace and Freedomin the European Parliament. The second one isNational Front,also afar rightparty which criticizes the European bureaucracy, intends to guarantee and preserve national independence and freedom in a liberated Europe; it also reaffirms the Christian roots of Europe. The third one is thePeople's Party,classified as right or extreme right. In its programfor the European election of 2019 the People's Party proposes to abolish theEuropean Commission,reduce the number of European parliamentarians and fight against the worker-posted directive.For this party, the EU must be led by a president elected byuniversal suffragewith clear but limited competences. It also wants to renegotiate the European Union treaties, restrict thejudicial activismof theEuropean Court of Human Rights.It declares itself against theGlobal Compact for Migration.The last one is theParti libertarien.In early 2019, the party aims to reduce the powers of the European Commission, to abolish theCommon Agricultural Policy,to abandon common defense projects, to simplify the exit procedure of theEuropean Union,to rejectfederalismand to forbid the European Union to direct economic, fiscal or social policy,Finally, theWorkers' Party of Belgiumis an electoral and unitary party. It also intends to revise the European treaties considered too liberal. One of the Party's currencies is "The left that stings, against the Europe of money".

Bulgaria

Volen Siderov,leader of the Bulgarian Eurosceptic partyAttack

European flag in Bulgaria torn down by supporters of the Eurosceptic party Attack

Parties with mainly Eurosceptic views areNFSB,Attack,andVMRO – BND,which is a member of the EuroscepticEuropean Conservatives and Reformists Group. Bulgaria's Minister of Finance,Simeon Djankov,stated in 2011 that ERM II membership to enter the Euro zone would be postponed until after theEurozone crisishad stabilised.

In the2014 European Parliament electionBulgaria remained overwhelmingly pro-EU, with the Eurosceptic Attack party receiving 3% of the vote, down 9%, with the splinter groupNational Front for the Salvation of Bulgariataking 3; neither party secured any MEPs. A coalition betweenVMRO – BNDandBulgaria Without Censorshipsecured an MEP position forAngel Dzhambazkifrom IMRO, who is a hard Eurosceptic.

Followers of Eurosceptic Attack tore down and trampled theEuropean flagon 3 March 2016 at a meeting of the party in the Bulgarian capitalSofia,dedicated to the commemoration of the 138th anniversary of theliberation of Bulgariafrom theOttoman Empire.

In the2019 European Parliament election,Bulgaria remained overwhelmingly pro-EU with the ruling centre-right Gerb party winning with 31%, against 26% for the socialist BSP.

Since the2021–2023 Bulgarian political crisis,the far-right hard Eurosceptic partyRevivalhas outplaced Attack, with it getting 14% on the most recent2023 Bulgarian parliamentary election.

Croatia

Parties with Eurosceptic views are mainly small right-wing parties likeCroatian Party of Rights,Croatian Party of Rights dr. Ante Starčević,Croatian Pure Party of Rights,Autochthonous Croatian Party of Rights,Croatian Christian Democratic PartyandOnly Croatia – Movement for Croatia.

The onlyparliamentary partythat is vocally Eurosceptic is theHuman Shieldthat won 5 out of 151 seats at the2016 parliamentary election.Their position is generally considered to waver between hard and soft Euroscepticism; it requests thorough reform of the EU so that all member states would be perfectly equal.

In the2019 European Parliament election,the Human Shield gained its first seat in the European Parliament with 6% of the vote putting it in 5th place.

Cyprus

Parties with mainly Eurosceptic views in Cyprus are theProgressive Party of Working PeopleandELAM.

In the2019 European Parliament election,there was little change politically – the conservatives won narrowly, the ruling DISY taking two seats with 29%, followed by socialist AKEL (27.5%, two seats) with no seats taken by Eurosceptic parties.

Czechia

Main article:Euroscepticism in the Czech Republic

Václav Klaus,former EuroscepticPresident of the Czech Republic

In May 2010, the Czech presidentVáclav Klaussaid that they "needn't hurry to enter the Eurozone".

Petr Mach,an economist, a close associate of president Václav Klaus and a member of theCivic Democratic Partybetween 1997 and 2007, founded theFree Citizens Partyin 2009. The party aims to mainly attract dissatisfied Civic Democratic Party voters.At the time of theLisbon Treaty ratification,they were actively campaigning against it, supported by the president Vaclav Klaus, who demanded opt-outs such as were granted to the United Kingdom and Poland,unlike the governing Civic Democratic Party, who endorsed it in theChamber of Deputies.After the treaty has been ratified, Mach's party is in favour of withdrawing from the European Union completely.In the2014 European Parliament election,the Free Citizens Party won one mandate and allied with UKIP in theEurope of Freedom and Direct Democracy(EFD).

The2017 Czech legislative electionbrought into Parliament one soft eurosceptic party, the centre-rightCivic Democratic Party(ODS) (11%), and two hard eurosceptic parties, the far-rightFreedom and Direct Democracy(SPD) (11%) and the left-wing to far-leftCommunist Party of Bohemia and Moravia(KSČM) (8%).

An April 2016 survey by the CVVM Institute indicated that 25% of Czechs were satisfied with EU membership, down from 32% the previous year.

Dividends worth CZK 270 billion were paid to theforeign ownersof Czech companies in 2017, which has become a political issue in the Czech Republic.

In the2019 European Parliament election,the Civic Democratic Party saw its vote share rise to 15% and its seats doubled from 2 to 4. The Freedom and Direct Democracy party took 2 seats with 9% of the vote. KSČM dropped 2 seats leaving it with only one and a vote share of 7%

Denmark

Main articles:Denmark and the European Union § Euroscepticism,andDanish withdrawal from the European Union

Pia Kjærsgaard,member (and former leader) of the hard Eurosceptic partyDanish People's Party(Dansk Folkeparti), the fifth-largest represented in theDanish parliamentand the fifth-most represented in the European Parliament

ThePeople's Movement against the EUonly takes part in European Parliament elections and has one member in the European Parliament. The soft EuroscepticJune Movement,originally a split-off from the People's Movement against the EU, existed from 1992 to 2009.

In the DanishParliament,theRed-Green Alliancepreviously advocated withdrawal from the EU, but in March 2019, the party announced it would no longer campaign for a referendum to leave the EU, pointing toBrexitillustrating the need for clarity before withdrawal can be considered.TheDanish People's Partyalso advocates withdrawal, but says it supports some EU structures such as theinternal market,and supported the EU-positiveLiberal-Conservative coalitionbetween 2001 and 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019.

TheSocialist People's Party,minorities within theSocial Liberal PartyandSocial Democratic Party,and some smaller parties were against accession to the European Union in 1972. Still in 1986, these parties advocated a no vote in theSingle European Act referendum.Later, the Social Liberal Party changed to a strongly EU-positive party, and EU opposition within the Social Democratic Party faded. The Socialist People's Party were against theAmsterdam Treatyin 1998 andDenmark's joining the euroin 2000, but has become increasingly EU-positive, for example when MEPMargrete Aukenleft theEuropean United Left–Nordic Green Leftand joinedThe Greens–European Free Alliancein 2004.

In the2014 European Parliament election,theDanish People's Partycame first by a large margin with 27% of the vote, gaining 2 extra seats for a total of 4 MEPs. ThePeople's Movement against the EUpolled 8%, retaining its single MEP.

In the2019 European Parliament election,theDanish People's Partylost around two-thirds of their previous vote share dropping from 4 seats to just 1. ThePeople's Movement against the EUlost their seat and theRed-Green Alliancegot one seat.

The2019 Danish general electionsaw the emergence of a new hard Eurosceptic partyNye Borgerligewhich supports Denmark leaving the EU. The party won four seats in parliament.

Estonia

TheIndependence PartyandCentre Partywere against accession to the EU, but only the Independence Party still wants Estonia to withdraw from the EU. TheConservative People's Party(EKRE) also has some Eurosceptic policies and increased its vote share from 4% in 2014 to 13% in the 2019 European Elections winning one seat.

Finland

The largest Eurosceptic party in Finland is theFinns Party.In theEuropean Parliament election, 2014,the Finns Party increased their vote share by 3% to 13%, adding a second MEP. With their 39 seats, the Finns Party are also the second-biggest party in the 200-seat FinnishEduskunta.

In theEuropean Parliament election, 2019,the Finns Party increased their vote share slightly from 13% to 14% and retained their 2 seats.

In its latest party platform written in 2019, the Finns Party is strongly opposed to further EU integration. The party proposes introducing a parallel currency within Finland in tandem with the Euro in order to phase out Finnish membership of the Eurozone and argues that while Finland is needed in the short-term in the European Parliament to defend Finland's interests, the country should also enact policies to help gradually withdraw Finland from the EU.During the2018 Finnish presidential election,the Finns Party candidateLaura Huhtasaaristated that her campaign would support exiting the EU.

France

See also:Frexit

Marine Le Pen,prominent French MEP, former leader and former presidential candidate of theNational Front (France)and of theEurope of Nations and Freedomgroup

In France there are multiple parties that are Eurosceptic to different degrees, varying from advocating less EU intervention in national affairs, to advocating outright withdrawal from the EU and the Eurozone. These parties belong to all sides of the political spectrum, so the reasons for their Euroscepticism may differ. In the past many French people appeared to be uninterested in such matters, with only 40% of the French electorate voting in the2009 European Parliament elections.

Right-wing Eurosceptic parties include theGaullistDebout la République,andMouvement pour la France,which was part ofLibertas,a pan-European Eurosceptic party.In the2009 European Parliament elections,Debout la République received 1.8% of the national vote, and Libertas 4.8%. In a similar way to some moderate parties, the French right and far-right in general are naturally opposed to the EU, as they criticise France's loss of political and economic sovereignty to asupranationalentity. Some of these hard Eurosceptic parties include thePopular Republican UnionandThe Patriotsand formerly theFront National(FN).Popular Republican Union seek France's withdrawal from the EU and the euro as well as France's withdrawal from NATO. The FN received 33.9% of the votes in the2017 French presidential election,making it the largest Eurosceptic party in France. In June 2018, the National Front was renamed as National Rally (RN) and in 2019 dropped support for France leaving the European Union and the Eurozone from its manifesto, instead calling for "reform from within" the union.

Eurosceptic parties on the left in France tend to criticise what they see as theneoliberalagenda of the EU, as well as the elements of its structure which are undemocratic and seen as top-down. These parties include theParti de Gaucheand theFrench Communist Party,which formed theFront de Gauchefor the 2009 European Parliament elections and received 6.3% of the votes. The leader of theLeft Frontdefends a complete reform of the Monetary Union, rather than the withdrawal of France from theEurozone.Some of the major far-left Eurosceptic parties in France include theNew Anticapitalist Partywhich received 4.8% andLutte Ouvrièrewhich received 1.2%. TheCitizen and Republican Movement,a left-wing Eurosceptic andsouverainistparty, have not participated in any elections for the European Parliament.

The partyChasse, Pêche, Nature & Traditions,is anagrarianistEurosceptic party that says it is neither left nor right.

In theEuropean Parliament election, 2014,theNational Frontwon the elections with 24.9% of the vote, a swing of 18.6%, winning 24 seats, up from 3 previously. The former French PresidentFrançois Hollandehad called for the EU to be reformed and for a scaling back of its power.

In theEuropean Parliament election, 2019,the renamedNational Rallywon the elections with 23.3% of the vote, winning 22 seats, down from 23 previously when their vote share was 24.9%.

Germany

"Referendumon saving theeuro!"Poster from the party Alternative for Germany (AfD) regarding Germany's financial contributions during theEurozone crisis

TheAlternative for Germany(AfD) is Germany's largest Eurosceptic party.It was elected into theGerman Parliamentwith 94 seats in September 2017.Initially the AfD was a soft Eurosceptic party, that considered itself pro-Europe and pro-EU, but opposed the euro, which it believed had undermined European integration, and called for reforms to theEurozone.

In theEuropean Parliament election, 2014,the Alternative for Germany came 5th with 7% of the vote, winning 7 seats and is a member of the Eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists Group. The Alternative for Germany went on to take seats in three state legislatures in the Autumn of 2014.

The party became purely Eurosceptic in 2015, when an internal split occurred, leading toFrauke Petry's leadership and a more hard-line approach to the European Union, including its calling for an end for GermanEurozonemembership, withdrawal from EU common asylum policies and significantly reducing the power of the EU with some AfD members supporting a complete exit from the EU altogether.

In July 2015 an AfD splinter group created a new soft Eurosceptic party calledAlliance for Progress and Renewal.

In theEuropean Parliament election, 2019,the Alternative for Germany increased their vote share from 7% and 7 seats to 11% and 11 seats.

In the2021 German Federal Election,AfD won 10.3% of the vote and 94 seats whereas in 2017, they received 12.6% of the vote and 83 seats; this meant they moved from third place to fifth place, falling behind theGreen PartyandFDP,both of which had been less popular than the AfD in 2017. Despite their overall electoral decline, the AfD still emerged as the largest in the states ofSaxonyandThuringia,and saw a strong performance ineastern Germany.

Greece

Main articles:Greek withdrawal from the EurozoneandGreek government-debt crisis

Golden Dawn,Communist Party of Greece(KKE),Greek Solution,ANEL,Course of Freedom,Popular Unity,andLAOShave been the main Eurosceptic parties in Greece. According to theLondon School of Economics,Greece used to be the second most Eurosceptic country in the European Union, with 50% of Greeks thinking that their country has not benefited at all from the EU (only behind the UK). Meanwhile, 33% of Greeks viewed Greek membership in EU as a good thing, marginally ahead of the UK. 81% of Greeks felt that the EU was going in the wrong direction.These figures represented a major increase in Euroscepticism in Greece since 2009.

In June 2012, the Eurosceptic parties in Greece that were represented in the parliament before the Election in January 2015 (ANEL, Golden Dawn, KKE) got 45.8% of the votes and 40.3% of the seats in the parliament. In thelegislative election of January 2015thepro-European(left and right-wing) parties (ND,PASOK,Potami,KIDISO,EKandPrasinoi-DIMAR) got 43.3% of the votes. The Eurosceptic parties got 54.6%. The Eurosceptic left (KKE,ANTARSYA-MARSandKKE (M–L)/M–L KKE) got 42.6% of the votes and the Eurosceptic right (Golden Dawn,ANELandLAOS) got 12.1% of the votes, with Syriza ahead with 36.3%. The Eurosceptic parties got 194 seats in the new parliament and the pro-EU parties got 106 seats.

According to thepolls conducted in June and July 2015(12 polls), the Eurosceptic left would get on average 48.0% (excluding extraparliamentary parties as ANTARSYA-MARS and KKE (m–l)/ML-KKE), the parliamentary pro-EU parties (Potami, New Democracy and PASOK) would get 33.8%, the extra-parliamentary (not represented in the Hellenic Parliament) pro-EU parties (KIDISO and EK) would get 4.4% and the Eurosceptic right would get 10.2% (excluding extraparliamentary parties, such asLAOS,not displayed on recent opinion polls). The soft Eurosceptic parties would get 42.3%, the hard Eurosceptic parties (includingKKE,ANELandGolden Dawn) would get 15.9%, and the pro-EU parties (including extra-parliamentary parties displayed on opinion polls) would get 38.3% of the votes.

In theEuropean Parliament election, 2014,Syrizawon the election with 26.6% of the vote (a swing of 21.9%) taking 6 seats (up 5), withGolden Dawncoming 3rd taking 3 seats, theCommunist Partytaking 2 seats and theIndependent Greeksgaining their first ever seat. Syriza's leader Tsipras said he's not anti-European and does not want to leave the euro. According toThe Economist,Tsipras is willing to negotiate with Greece's European partners, and it is believed a Syriza victory could encourage radical leftist parties across Europe. Alexis Tsipras vowed to reverse many of the austerity measures adopted by Greece since a series of bailouts began in 2010, at odds with the Eurogroup's positions. The government coalition in Greece was composed by Syriza andANEL(right-wing hard Eurosceptic party, led byPanos Kammenos,who is the current Minister of Defence).

Euroscepticism has softened in Greece as the economy improved. According to a research in early 2018, 68% of Greeks judge as positive the participation of Greece in the EU (instead of 53.5% in 2017).

In theEuropean Parliament election, 2019,the New Democracy movement, beat the ruling left-wing Syriza formation with 33.1% and 23.8% of the vote respectively, maintaining Syriza's 6 seats and prompting the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to call alegislative electionon 7 July 2019. In this election, which was won by ND, the pro-European parties (ND, SYRIZA, KINAL, MeRA25, and the extra-parliamentary Union of Centrists and Recreate Greece) got 84.9% of the vote and the Eurosceptic parties (KKE, Greek Solution, the extraparliamentary Golden Dawn and a host of other small mainly left-wing parties) got 15.1%. That drastic change in the balance is mostly the result of SYRIZA abandoning Euroscepticism.

Hungary

See also:Hungarian withdrawal from the European Union

Viktor Orbán,Prime Minister of Hungary

An anti-EU poster in Hungary

Viktor Orbánis the soft EuroscepticPrime Minister of Hungaryfor the national-conservativeFideszParty. Another Eurosceptic party that was present in Hungary wasJobbik,which until around 2016, was identified as aradicalandfar-rightparty. Those far-right factions, who left Jobbik, decided to form theOur Homeland Movementparty.

In 2015, 39% of the Hungarian population had a positive image of the EU, 20% had a negative image, and 40% neutral (1% "Don't know" ).

In the2014 Hungarian parliamentary election,Fidesz got 44.5% of the votes, Jobbik got 20.5% of the votes and the communistHungarian Workers' Partygot 0.6% of the votes. Thus at the time, Eurosceptic parties in Hungary obtained 65.7% of the votes, one of the highest figures in Europe.

The green-liberalPolitics Can Be Different(Lehet Más a Politika, LMP) classifies as a soft or reformist Eurosceptic party given its self-professedeuro-criticalstance. During theEuropean parliamentary campaign of 2014party Co-presidentAndrás Schifferdescribed LMP as having a pronounced pro-integration position onenvironmental,wage andlabourpolicy as supporting member state autonomy on the self-determination of local communities concerning land resources. So as to combat thedifferentiated integrationof themulti-speed Europewhich discriminates against Eastern and Southern member states, LMP would like to initiate aneco-social market economywithin the union.

In theEuropean Parliament election, 2019,Fidesz consolidated their position by increasing their vote share to 51.5% and adding a seat to take their tally to 13. Former Eurosceptic (now pro-European) Jobbik dropped to 6.3% of the votes, losing 2 of its 3 seats. TheMomentum Movement,a newly created pro-European party, came 3rd with 9.3% of the vote, with the strongly pro-EuropeanDemocratic Coalitioncoming second with 16.1% of the vote.Our Homeland Movementgot 3.3% of the votes, gaining no seats.

Ireland

Main article:Euroscepticism in the Republic of Ireland

Euroscepticism is a minority view inIreland,with opinion polls from 2016 to 2018 indicating growing support for EU membership, moving from 70% to 92% in that time.

TheIrish peopleinitially voted against ratifying the Nice and Lisbon Treaties. Following renegotiations, second referendums on both were passed with approximately 2:1 majorities in both cases.Some commentators and smaller political groups questioned the validity of the Irish Government's decision to call second referendums.

The left-wingIrish republicanpartySinn Féinexpressessoft Euroscepticpositions on the current structure of the European Union and the direction in which it is moving. The party expresses, "support for Europe-wide measures that promote and enhance human rights, equality andthe all-Ireland agenda",but has a" principled opposition "to aEuropean superstate.In its manifesto for the2015 UK general election,Sinn Féin pledged that the party would campaign for the UK to stay within the EU.Inthe 2019 European Parliament election,Sinn Féin won one seat and 11.7% of the vote, down 7.8%.

TheSocialist Party,aTrotskyistorganisation, supports Ireland leaving the EU and supported theBrexitresult.It argues that the European Union is institutionally capitalist and neoliberal.The Socialist Party campaigned against the Lisbon and Nice Treaties and favours the foundation of an alternative Socialist European Union.

Italy

"Italexit" redirects here. For the political party with this name, seeItalexit (political party).

TheFive Star Movement(M5S), ananti-establishmentmovement founded by comedianBeppe Grillo,originally set itself out as a Eurosceptic party. The M5S received 25.5% of vote in the2013 general election,becoming the largest anti-establishment and Eurosceptic party in Europe. The party used to advocate a non-binding referendum on the withdrawal of Italy from theEurozone(but not from the European Union) and the return to thelira.Since then, the party has toned down its eurosceptic rhetoricand such policy was rejected in 2018,and the M5S's leader has since stated that the "European Union is the Five Star Movement's home", clarifying that the party wants Italy to stay in the EU, even though it remains critical of some of its treaties.The M5S's popular support is distributed all across Italy: in the2018 general electionthe party won 32.7% of the popular vote nationwide, and was particularly successful incentralandsouthern Italy.

A party that retains a Eurosceptic identity is theNorthern League(LN), aregionalistmovement led byMatteo Salvinifavouring Italy's exit from the Eurozone and the re-introduction of the lira. When in government, Lega approved theTreaty of Lisbon.The party won 6.2% of the vote in the2014 European Parliament elections,but two of its leading members are presidents ofLombardyandVeneto(where Lega gained 40.9% of the vote in2015).

Matteo Salviniwith the Eurosceptic economistsClaudio Borghi Aquilini,Alberto BagnaiandAntonio Maria Rinaldiduring theNo Euro Dayin Milan, 2013. All economists were later elected MPs in different assemblies

In the2014 European Parliament electionthe Five Star Movement came second, with 17 seats and 21.2% of the vote after contesting EP seats for the first time. Northern League had five seats andThe Other Europe with Tsiprashad three seats.

Other minor Eurosceptic organizations include right-wing political parties (e.g.,Brothers of Italy,Tricolour Flame,New Force,National Front,CasaPound,National Movement for Sovereignty,theNo Euro Movement), far-left political parties (e.g., theCommunist PartyofMarco Rizzo,theItalian Communist Partyand the political movementPower to the People) and other political movements (e.g., the Sovereignist Front,MMTItaly). In addition, the European Union is criticized (especially for theausterityand the creation of theeuro) by some left-wing thinkers, like thetrade unionistGiorgio Cremaschiand the journalistPaolo Barnard,and someacademics,such asAlberto Bagnaithe philosopherDiego Fusaro.

According to the StandardEurobarometer87 conducted by theEuropean Commissionin spring 2017, 48% of Italians tend not to trust theEuropean Unioncompared to 36% of Italians who do.

In the2019 European election,the Italian Eurosceptic andsouverainistright-wing, represented in large part by the League, increased its number of seats in the EP, but was not assigned any presidency in thecommittees of the European Parliament.Despite its national political alliance with the League during theConte Cabinet,theFive Star Movementvoted forUrsula von der Leyen,member of pro-EUChristian Democratic Union of Germany,asPresident of the European Commission.

In July 2020, senatorGianluigi ParagoneformedItalexit,a new political party with a main goal to withdraw Italy from the European Union.

Latvia

TheNational Alliance(For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK/All for Latvia!),Union of Greens and FarmersandFor Latvia from the Heartare parties that are described by some political commentators as bearing soft Eurosceptic views.A small hard Eurosceptic partyEurosceptic Party of Actionexists, but it has failed to gain any administrative seats throughout history of its existence.

Lithuania

TheOrder and Justiceparty had mainly Eurosceptic views.

Luxembourg

TheAlternative Democratic Reform Partyis a soft Eurosceptic party.It is a member of theAlliance of European Conservatives and Reformists.

Malta

The Labour Party was not in favour of Malta entering the European Union. It was in favour of a partnership with the EU. After a long battle, the Nationalist Party led by Eddie Fenech Adami won the referendum and the following election, making Malta one of the states to enter the European Union on 1 May 2004. The party is now pro-European. Nowadays thePeople's Partyoften adopts Eurosceptic views.

Netherlands

See also:Dutch withdrawal from the European Union

Geert Wilders,leader of theParty for Freedom,a hardline Dutch Eurosceptic party that has been criticised asanti-PolishandIslamophobic

Historically, the Netherlands have been a very pro-European country, being one of the six founding members of theEuropean Coal and Steel Communityin 1952, and campaigning with much effort to include the United Kingdom into the Community in the 1970s and others after that. It has become slightly more Eurosceptic in the 2000s,rejecting the European Constitution in 2005and complaining about the relatively high financial investment into the Union or the democratic deficit amongst other issues.

A number of hard and soft eurosceptic parties have politicians elected to the Dutch House of Representatives and European Parliament which include:

• The nationalistParty for Freedom(founded in 2006) is a hard-eurosceptic party and wants the Netherlands to leave the EU in its entirety, because it believes the EU is undemocratic, costs money and cannot close the borders for immigrants.
• The conservative and right-wing populistForum for Democracy(FvD) party was originally founded byThierry Baudetas a think tank to campaign against theAssociation Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine.In 2016, the FvD was established as a fully fledged party. It is opposed to many of the policies of theEuropean Unionand calls for a referendum on Dutch membership in which it would endorse withdrawal.
• The conservative-liberalJA21party (founded in 2021 as a splinter from the FvD) is opposed to Dutch participation severalEuropean Unionagreements, including its immigration and asylum policies, and believes Dutch identity and self-determination should be prioritized above the EU. It supports Dutch withdrawal from theEurozoneand for the Netherlands to exit EU treaties it deems a threat to national sovereignty.
• TheSocialist Partybelieves the European Union has already brought Europe 50 years of peace and prosperity and argues that European co-operation is essential for tackling global problems like climate change and international crime. The SP opines that the current Union is dominated by the big businesses and the big countries, while the labour movement, consumer organisations and smaller companies are often left behind. "Neoliberal" measures have supposedly increased social inequality, and perhaps the Union is expanding too fast and taking on too much power in issues that should be dealt with on a national level.
• The conservative ProtestantReformed Political Partyand theChristian Unionfavour co-operation within Europe, but reject a superstate, especially one that is dominated by Catholics, or that infringes on religious rights and/or privileges.
• The pensioner's interest party50PLUSis moderately Eurosceptic.
• The ecologistParty for the Animalsfavours European co-operation, but believes the current EU does not respect animal rights enough and should have a more active policy on environment protection.
• The agrarian and rural interestsFarmer–Citizen Movement(BBB) was founded in 2019 and is a soft-eurosceptic party. It supports membership of the EU for economic and trade purposes, but argues the political power of the EU should be stripped back so the bloc is closer to the model of the former EEC, wants reforms made to the Eurozone and is against the EU becoming a superstate.

A prominent former Eurosceptic party in the Netherlands was thePim Fortuyn List(LPF) established by politician and academicPim Fortuynin 2002. The party campaigned to reduce Dutch financial contributions to the EU, was against Turkish membership and opposed what it saw as the excessive bureaucracy and threat to national sovereignty posed by the EU. During the2002 general election,the LPF polled in second place with 17% of the vote. Following the assassination of Fortuyn in the run-up to the election, support for the party declined soon after and it was disbanded in 2008 with many of is former supporters transferring to theParty for Freedom.

Despite these concerns, in 2014 the majority of the Dutch electorate continued to support parties that favour ongoing European integration: theSocial Democrats,theChristian Democrats,theLiberals,but most of all the(Liberal) Democrats.

In 2016, a substantial majority in a low-turnout referendum rejected the ratification of an EU trade and association treaty withUkraine.

In the2019 European Parliament election,Eurosceptic parties had mixed results withGeert Wilders'Party for Freedomlosing all 4 of its seats taking only 3.5% of the vote. The newForum for Democracyestablished in late 2016 took 11.0% of the vote and entered the European Parliament with 3 seats.

Poland

See also:Polexit

The main parties with Eurosceptic views areLaw and Justice(PiS),United Poland(SP) and theConfederation Liberty and Independenceand the main Eurosceptic politicians includeRyszard Bender,Andrzej Grzesik,Krzysztof Bosak,Dariusz Grabowski,Janusz Korwin-Mikke,Marian Kowalski,Paweł Kukiz,Zbigniew Ziobro,Anna Sobecka,Robert Winnicki,Artur Zawisza,andStanisław Żółtek.

Former president of PolandLech Kaczyńskiresisted giving his signature on behalf of Poland to theTreaty of Lisbon,objecting specifically to theCharter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.Subsequently, Poland got anopt-outfrom this charter. As Polish President, Kaczyński also opposed the Polish government's intentions to join theeuro.

Polish PresidentAndrzej Duda,Polish Prime MinisterMateusz MorawieckiandJarosław Kaczyński,9 April 2018

In 2015, it was reported that Euroscepticism was growing in Poland, which was thought to be due to the "economic crisis, concern over perceived interference from Brussels and migration".Polish presidentAndrzej Dudaindicated that he wished for Poland to step back from further EU integration. He suggested that the country should "hold a referendum on joining the euro, resist further integration and fight the EU's green policies", despite getting the largest share of EU cash.

In the2019 European Parliament election,the Law and Justice party won the largest number of seats, with a vote share increase up from 31.8% to 45.4%, increasing its seats from 19 to 27.

"Trumna dla rybaków"( "Coffin for fishermen" ). A sign visible on the sides of many Polish fishing boats. It depicts anobscene Slavic gesture.Polish fishermen protest against theEU's prohibition of cod fishingon Polish ships.

In 2019, the formerMEPStanisław Żółtekcreated a political party called PolEXIT, whose flagship ideology is euroscepticism.Its candidate forpresident of Polandin the2020 electionswas the party's leader, Żółtek,who got 45 419 votes (0.23%), ranking 7th out of 11 candidates and did not qualify to the second round.

Portugal

The main Eurosceptic parties in Portugal areChega,thePortuguese Communist Party(PCP), andLeft Bloc(BE). Opinion polling in Portugal in 2015 indicated that 48 per cent tended not to trust the EU,while 79 per cent tended not to trust the Portuguese government (then led byPortugal Ahead).Eurosceptic political parties hold a combined total of 23 seats out of 230 inPortugal's parliament(BE 5, PCP 6, PNR 0, CHEGA 12) and a combined total of 4 out of Portugal's 21 seats in the European Parliament (PCP 2, BE 2, PNR 0, CHEGA 0).

In the last2014 European Parliament election,thePortuguese Communist Partywon three seats and theLeft Blocwon one seat.

In the2019 European Parliament election,Left Bloctook 9.8% and gained 1 seat,Portuguese Communist Partyworking in coalition withEcologist Party "The Greens"took 6.9% and 2 seats andNational Renovator Party(PNR) polled just 0.5%, with no seats.

2019 saw the emergence of a new Eurosceptic political party,Chega,who gained a seat inthat year's legislative election.The party did not capture any seats in the 2019 European Parliament elections, but saw its leaderAndré Venturafinish third in the2021 presidential election,securing 11.9% of those voting.

In the2022 Portuguese snap election,Chega got 7.2% of the vote and 12 out of the 230 seats in theAssembly of the Republic.

Romania

See also:Romanian withdrawal from the European Union

Several parties espousing Eurosceptic views exist on the right, such as theNew Republic,theGreater Romania PartyandNoua Dreaptă,but as of June 2020 none of these parties are represented in European Parliament. Euroscepticism is relatively unpopular in Romania, a 2015 survey found 65% of Romanians had a positive view of the country's EU membership.

The Eurosceptic parties remained unrepresented in the2019 European Parliament election.

The soft EuroscepticAlliance for the Union of Romanians,which was founded in September 2019, entered the Romanian parliament in 2020.

Slovakia

Parties with Eurosceptic views are theSlovak National Party,Republic,We Are Family,People's Party Our Slovakia.Prominent Slovak Eurosceptic politicians includeAndrej Danko,Milan Uhrík,Boris Kollár,Marian Kotleba.

In the2019 European Parliament election,People's Party Our Slovakiacame 3rd securing 12.1% and winning their first 2 seats in the European Parliament, whereas theSlovak National PartyandWe Are Familydid not win any seats.

Slovenia

Parties with mainly Eurosceptic views areSlovenian National PartyandThe Left.Neither won seats in the2019 European Parliament election in Slovenia.

Spain

Santiago Abascal,leader ofVox

The process of Europeanization changed during the years inSpain.In 1986 Spain entered in theEuropean Community.Since then, Spain has been one of the most Europeanist countries. Therefore, when Spain became part of the European Community, the country had a strongpro-Europeanistfeeling, according toEurobarometer,as it reflected a 60% of the population.In Spain different reasons explain its entrance to the European Community. On the one hand, democracy has just been established in Spain afterFrancisco Francodictatorship. On the other hand, the main objectives of Spain were to achieveeconomic development,and also a social modernization.Spain was one of the few countries to vote Yes for the European Constitution in a referendum in February 2005, though by a lower margin inCataloniaand theBasque Country.

In 2008, after thefinancial crisisreached Spain, the percentage of pro European persons started to fall. Thus, during the five years of the economic crisis, the Eurobarometershows how the trust in the EU increasingly fell in Spain, and the confidence of the Spanish citizens in the European Union decreased for more than 50 points. Spain became one of the most Eurosceptic countries among all European Union Members, as it happened in pretty much European countries, where nationalist and eurosceptic characterised parties became stronger.

The historical two-parties system, composed by the conservativePartido Popularand the social-democraticPartido Socialista Obrero Español,collapsed. In the 2000s, the liberalCiudadanosand leftist partyPodemosbecame part of the political context, gaining electoral consensus, followed years later byultranationalistpartyVox.The new parties were the effect of the disaffection of most Spaniards towards politics and politicians, that increased for several reasons: firstly,corruptionat all political levels, reaching theRoyal Familytoo; secondly, recession intensified distrust of the population towards national government; thirdly, a phase of renovation of theautonomous regionswhich extended the distance between the National government and the Regional ones.

Candidatura d'Unitat Popular,a left-wing to far-left political party with about 1,300 members advocates independence forCataloniaoutside of the European Union. Up to 2014 European elections, there were no Spanish parties present in the Eurosceptic groups at the European Parliament. In the2015 Spanish general election,Podemosbecame the first left-wing Eurosceptic political party to win seats in theCongress of Deputies,obtaining 69 seats, and in the2019 Spanish general election,Voxbecame the first far-right Eurosceptic political party to win seats in theCongress of Deputies,obtaining 24 seats.

Sweden

TheLeft Party of Swedenis against accession to the eurozone and previously wanted Sweden to leave the European Union until 2019.The new party program, adapted in 2024, is highly EU-critical but states that an EU-withdrawal is only a "last option".Their youth organizationYoung Leftis still campaigning for Sweden to leave the EU.

The nationalist andright-wing populistpartySweden Democrats(SD) support closer political, economic and military cooperation with neighboring Nordic and certain Northern European countries, but strongly oppose further EU integration and further transfers of Swedish sovereignty to the EU as a whole. The party is also against Swedish accession to the eurozone, the creation of a combined EU military budget and want to renegotiate Swedish membership of theSchengen Agreement.The SD also want a constitutional amendment to require that all EU treaties must be voted on by the Swedish public first and that if the EU cannot be reformed and assumes more power at the expense of national sovereignty Sweden must exit the bloc.

TheJune List,a Eurosceptic list consisting of members from both the political right and left won three seats in the 2004 Elections to the European Parliament and sat in the EU-criticalIND/DEM groupin the European Parliament. The movementFolkrörelsen Nej till EUfavours a withdrawal from the EU.

Around 75% of theRiksdagmembers represent parties that officially supports the Sweden membership.

In theEuropean Parliament election, 2014,theSweden Democratsgained 2 seats with 9.7% of the vote, up 6.4%, and theLeft Partytook one seat with 6.3% of the vote.

In theEuropean Parliament election, 2019,theSweden Democratsincreased from 2 to 3 seats with 15.3% of the vote, up from 9.7%, and theLeft Partyretained its one seat with 6.8% of the vote.

In winter 2019–2020, in connection with the request from "poor" member countries of much higher membership fees for "rich" member countries, for the reason of keeping support levels so "poor" countries would not suffer fromBrexit,where a "rich" country left the union in part due to high membership fees, a media and social media debate for a "Swexit" increased.This was still rejected by parties representing a majority of the parliament, with theCOVID-19 pandemicquickly taking over the debate.

In other European countries

Armenia

Prosperous Armeniarepresents the main Eurosceptic party inArmenia.Following the2018 Armenian parliamentary election,the party gained 26 seats in theNational Assembly,becoming the official opposition. Following the2021 Armenian parliamentary election,the party lost all political representation and currently acts as an extra-parliamentary force. The party was a member of theAlliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

TheAlliance of Independent Social Democratsis a Bosnian Serb political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Founded in 1996, it is the governing party in Bosnia and Herzegovina's entity calledRepublika Srpska,with its leader beingMilorad Dodik.

Georgia

Georgian Marchis the main Eurosceptic party inGeorgia.The party supports a slight distancing of Georgia from the West, as well as rejecting the country's entrance intoNATO.

In March 2022, Georgia submitted a formal application for membership of the EU.

Iceland

The three main Eurosceptic parties in Iceland are theIndependence Party,Left-Green Movementand theProgressive Party.The Independence Party and the Progressive Party won theparliamentary electionin April 2013 and they have halted the current negotiations with the European Union regarding Icelandic membership and tabled a parliamentary resolution on 21 February 2014 to withdraw the application completely.

In 2017, Iceland'snewly electedgovernment announced that it would hold a vote in parliament on whether to hold a referendum on resuming EU membership negotiations.In November 2017 that government was replaced by a coalition of the Independence Party, the Left Green Movement and the Progressive Party; all of whom oppose membership. Only 11 out of 63 MPs are in favour of EU membership.

Moldova

The main Eurosceptic parties in Moldova are the left-wingParty of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova,which officially declared its main purpose to be the integration of Moldova in theEurasian Economic Union,Victory,and theParty of Communists of the Republic of Moldova,even if nowadays its leader speech became more soft on the issue of Euroscepticism. As of March 2022 all the parties are represented inMoldovan Parliament,with 35 MPs out of a total of 101 MPs.

In March 2022, Moldova submitted a formal application for membership of the EU.

Montenegro

The right-wingDemocratic Frontalliance are the main moderate eurosceptic subject in theParliament of Montenegro,although its initially declaratively supported country's bid for accession to theEuropean Union,all other parliamentary subjects officially advocates Montenegrin access to EU. The only parties that advocates Montenegro's rejecting the European integration are the extra-parliamentary right-wing populist to far-right parties, such asTrue Montenegro,Party of Serb Radicals,Democratic Party of Unityand theSerb List,all four are known for their close cooperation with the parliamentary Democratic Front.

Norway

See also:Norway–European Union relations

Norway has rejected EU membership in two referendums,1972and1994.TheCentre Party,Christian Democratic Party,Socialist Left PartyandLiberal Partywere against EU membership in both referendums. The Liberal Party was particularly divided on the issue, and a large pro-EEC minority split off from the party before the 1972 referendum. In 2020, the Liberal Party officially reversed its position and since then, supports Norwegian EU membership.

Among the established political parties of Norway, the Centre Party, Socialist Left Party, andRed Partyare also against Norway's current membership of theEuropean Economic Area.In addition, the libertarianCapitalist Partyand Christian-conservativeThe Christians,both of whom have never held a seat in the Norwegian parliament, are also against Norway's membership in the EEA.

Russia

See also:Russia–European Union relations

Russian PresidentVladimir Putinis an outspoken Eurosceptic who has promoted an alternative Economic Union withArmenia,Belarus,KazakhstanandKyrgyzstan– theEurasian Economic Union.

Parties with mainly Eurosceptic views are the rulingUnited Russia,and opposition parties theCommunist Party of the Russian FederationandLiberal Democratic Party of Russia.

Following theannexation of Crimea,the European Union issued sanctions on the Russian Federation in response to what it regards as an "illegal" annexation and "deliberate destabilisation" of a neighbouring sovereign country.In response to this,Alexey Borodavkin– Russia's permanent representative with the UN – said "The EU is committing a direct violation of human rights by its actions against Russia. The unilateral sanctions introduced against us are not only illegitimate according to international law, they also undermine Russian citizens' freedom of travel, freedom of development, freedom of work and others".In the same year, Russian presidentVladimir Putinsaid: "What are the so-called European values? Maintaining the coup, the armed seizure of power and the suppression of dissent with the help of the armed forces?"

A February 2014 poll conducted by theLevada Center,Russia's largest independent polling organization, found that nearly 80% of Russian respondents had a "good" impression of the EU. This changed dramatically in 2014 with the Ukrainian crisis resulting in 70% taking a hostile view of the EU compared to 20% viewing it positively.

A Levada poll released in August 2018 found that 68% of Russians polled believe that Russia needs to dramatically improve relations with Western countries. 42% of Russian respondents said they had a positive view of the EU, up from 28% in May 2018.

San Marino

Areferendumwas held in thelandlockedmicrostateon 20 October 2013 in which the citizens were asked whether the country should submit an application to join theEuropean Union.The proposal was rejected because of a low turnout, even though 50.3% of voters approved it. The "Yes" campaign was supported by the main left-wing parties (Socialist Party,United Left) and theUnion for the Republicwhereas theSammarinese Christian Democratic Partysuggested voting with ablank ballot,thePopular Alliancedeclared itself neutral, andWe Sammarineseand the RETE movement supported the "No" campaign. TheCitizens' Rights Directive,which defines theright of free movementfor theEuropean citizens,may have been an important reason for those voting no.

Serbia

Serbian politician Boško Obradović, a prominent eurosceptic

In Serbia, political parties with eurosceptic views tend to be right-orientated. The most notable examples are theultranationalistSerbian Radical Party(SRS) which since its inception has opposed entering the European Unionand theright-wing populistDveri.Political parties such as theDemocratic Party of Serbia(DSS) hadpro-Westernviews and was initially supportive of the accession into the European Union but under the late 2000s leadership ofVojislav Koštunicathey turned eurosceptic,and theEnough is Enough(DJB) political party, initially a liberal centrist party that also supported the accession turned towards the right-wing eurosceptic position shortly after 2018.

Historically, theSocialist Party of Serbia(SPS) and theYugoslav Left(JUL) were the only two left-leaning political parties that imposed eurosceptic and anti-Western views. The ruling coalition in Serbia,For Our Children,which is predominantly pro-European orientated is also composed of two minor eurosceptic parties, the right-wingSerbian People's Partythat advocates closer ties to Russia,and the left-leaningMovement of Socialistswhich was formed as the eurosceptic split from SPS in the 2000s.

Other minor political parties in Serbia that have eurosceptic views areHealthy Serbia,People's Freedom Movement,Russian Party,Love, Faith, Hope,Serbian Party Oathkeepers,Serbian RightandLeviathan Movement.

Switzerland

See also:Switzerland–European Union relations

Switzerlandhas long been known forits neutralityin international politics. Swiss voters rejectedEEAmembershipin 1992,and EU membershipin 2001.Despite the passing of several referendums calling for closer relations betweenSwitzerland and the European Unionsuch as the adoption of bilateral treaties and the joining of theSchengen Area,a second referendum of the joining of the EEA or the EU is not expected,and the general public remains opposed to joining.

In February 2014, the Swiss voters narrowly approved areferendum limiting the freedom of movementof EU citizens to Switzerland.

Eurosceptic political parties include theSwiss People's Party,which is the largestpolitical party in Switzerland,with 29.4% of the popular vote as of the2015 federal election.Smaller Eurosceptic parties include, but are not limited to, theFederal Democratic Union,theTicino League,and theGeneva Citizens' Movement,all of which are considered right-wing parties.

In addition, theCampaign for an Independent and Neutral Switzerlandis a political organisation in Switzerland that is strongly opposed to Swiss membership of or further integration otherwise with the European Union.

Regionally, the German-speaking majority as well as the Italian-speaking areas are the most Eurosceptic, whileFrench-speaking Switzerlandtends to be more pro-European integration. In the 2001 referendum, the majority of French-speakers voted against EU membership.According to a 2016 survey conducted by M.I.S Trend and published inL'Hebdo,69 percent of the Swiss population supports systematic border controls, and 53 percent want restrictions on the EU accord of the free movements of peoples and 14 percent want it completely abolished.54% of the Swiss population said that if necessary, they would ultimately keep the freedom of movement of people's accord.

Turkey

The two main Eurosceptic parties are the far-right ultranationalist,Nationalist Movement Party(MHP), which secured 11.1% of votes, and 49 seats in theParliamentat thelast election,and theFelicity Party(Saadet Partisi), a far-rightSunni Islamistparty, which has no seats in the Parliament, as it only secured 0.7% of the votes in the last election, far below the 10% threshold necessary to be represented in the Parliament.

Many left-wing nationalist and far-left parties hold no seats at parliament but they control many activist and student movements in Turkey. ThePatriotic Party(formerly called Workers' Party) consider the European Union as a front-runner of global imperialism.

Founded on 26 August 2021 under the leadership ofÜmit Özdağ,Victory Party (Turkey)is aTurkish nationalistandanti-immigrantpolitical party. It is represented by two deputies in theTurkish Grand National Assembly."TheEuropean Uniondoes not want to negotiate with Turkey. We will not humiliate Turkey anymore. "Özdağ said.

Ukraine

See also:Ukraine–European Union relations

Parties with mainly Eurosceptic views areOpposition Platform – For Life,Opposition Bloc,Party of ShariyandRight Sector.

The far-right Ukrainian groupRight Sectoropposes joining the European Union. It regards the EU as an "oppressor" of European nations.

In the 2019 parliamentary election theOpposition Platform – For Lifewon 37 seats on the nationwide party list and 6 constituency seats.

The leader of theParty of ShariyAnatoly Shariy is one of the closest associates ofViktor Medvedchuk,whom Ukraine's special services suspect of financing terrorism.

United Kingdom

Main articles:BrexitandEuroscepticism in the United Kingdom

Nigel Farage,former Leader ofUKIPand current leader ofReform UKand former co-leader of theEurope of Freedom and Direct Democracygroup in the European Parliament. Farage is one of the most prominent Eurosceptic figures in the UK.

Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom has been a minor, but significant, element in British politics ever since the inception of theEuropean Economic Community(EEC), the predecessor to the EU. With its relative geographic isolation in theBritish Islesfrom the rest of Europe on the main landmass, the politics of European membership has remained of much lower priority than internal national politics. After theEuropean Communities membership referendumof 1975, the issue of Euroscepticism on the political stage was relegated to a fringe issue of the extreme ends of the political spectrum in thehard-leftand thehard-right.The European Union strongly divides parts the British public, political parties, media and civil society.

Historically, theConservative Partyhas expressed divided sentiments on the issue of EU membership, with the official stance changing with party leadership and individual MPs within the party variously favouring total withdrawal and remaining in the EU, while others adopted a position ofsoft Euroscepticismbeing supportive of membership, but opposed to joining theEurozoneand pursuing further integration. Until the 1980s, the Conservative Party was somewhat more pro-EU than the Labour Party: for example, in the 1971 House of Commons vote on whether the UK should join the European Economic Community, only 39 of the then 330 Conservative MPs were opposed to membership.

WhenMargaret Thatchercame into power as the Prime Minister in 1979, the Conservative Party’s view on the EU saw a big swing from supporting the EU to becoming sceptical, thus campaigning against increasing its powers. Thatcher was seen as the ‘spiritual mother’of Euroscepticism – though never argued to secede whilst being PM, envisioning a less integrated place in the EU, but still remaining a member – and became one of the most important Eurosceptic voices in the United Kingdom through the 1990s, ultimately changing the Conservatives’ view on the EU. In 2009 the Conservative Party actively campaigned against theLisbon Treaty,which it believed would give away too much sovereignty to Brussels.ShadowForeign SecretaryWilliam Haguestated that, should the treaty be in force by the time of an incoming Conservative government, he would "not let matters rest there".

Although often associated with being a major cause of the political far-right in the late 20th into the 21st century, with the contemporary Labour Party supporting EU membership, there have been notable Eurosceptic politicians on the far left of British politics, such as former Labour cabinet minister on the 1970sTony Bennwho held a longstanding opposition to British membership of the EU throughout his career. Other Labour MPs who supported Eurosceptic sentiments and British withdrawal have includedKate Hoey,Frank Field,Graham Stringer,Ian Austin,Tom Harris,Gisela Stuart,andAustin Mitchell.Other figures on the left have includedGeorge Gallowayand socialist trade unionistArthur Scargillwho both endorsed UK secession from the European Union.

The far-rightUK Independence Party(UKIP) was set up for the specific purpose of advocating for the UK unilaterallysecedingthe European Union (Brexit) since its foundation in 1993.This party had very little support from the UK population as a whole, due in good part to a general indifference and apathy to the issue. UKIP remained on the fringes of politics and only won one seat at a general election to theHouse of CommonsinParliamentin 2015. It had stronger, but highly localised, support in local politics in solidly working class areas, winning 163 councillors to local authorities in these areas, but nowhere near enough to gain any majority in any council. Until 2014, it only won a small number seats to the EU Parliament, in the main due to public apathy for voting in European Parliamentary elections, represented by very low voter turn-out. A collapse in support across all three major political parties in 2014, resulted inUKIP gaining 27.5% of votes in the European Parliamentary elections,mainly across rural England and to a lesser degree in Wales.

After theinconclusive general election result of 2010,resulting in ahung Parliament,the issue of EU membership remained very low on the political priority agenda — broadly speaking a non-issue. However, the party with the largest number of seats in the 2010 Parliament wasthe Conservatives,which was deeply riven by the issue being led by a pro-European leadership on the whole, but with a large number of very vociferous Euroscepticbackbenchers.As a political compromise, the party's leaderDavid Cameronfrom his weak position was coerced into agreeing to a political pledge for a referendum on EU membership.

By forming a coalition with the strongly pro-EULiberal Democrats,the Conservatives dropped the EU referendum pledge that Cameron never wanted to implement in the first place. Politically, the EU remained a fringe issue, except from Conservative backbench rumblings stoked by the right-wingprint mediaor press — lead byThe Daily Telegraph,The Daily Mail,andThe Sun— that kept the issue bubbling under.

By 2015, support for the Liberal Democrats had collapsed — as is typical for the minor party in a coalition government — because their core centre-left supporters typically voted against the Conservatives. In the2015 general election,this Lib. Dem. vote collapse led to a surprising Conservative victory, notably to Cameron too, as national polling had consistently predicted another hung Parliament.

The Conservatives had brought back the EU referendum pledge for 2014 and Cameron then Cameron found to his regret that he was going to have to fulfil this pledge. After managing to defeat the referendum for Scottish secession from the United Kingdom and the surprise general election win, emboldened Cameron to get the pledge out of the way sooner rather than later – the prospect of this referendum pledge hanging over the government appeared worse. In an effort to reduce Euroscepticism, Cameron sought and gained from the EU a favourable renegotiation of the terms of membership to bring more benefit to the UK from the EU that he tied to the referendum.

For the 23 June 2016referendum on the EU membership,whilst the Conservatives had no official political policy position either way, its leader Cameron was definitely in favour of remaining in the EU — albeit with the renegotiation of the terms of membership little political mileage was gained — and the party remained profoundly split, as it always had been.

TheLabour Partypolicy officially supported remaining in the EU, although withJeremy Corbynparty leader and hisMomentumsupporters gave a lacklustre defence against secession. since first being elected in 1984 as a stalwart adherent of EuroscepticTony Bennand his far left wing, Corbin had personally advocated throughout his terms as a Labour MP, so he suggested early on in the campaign that he would willingly consider withdrawal contrary to official party policy.TheLiberal Democratswere the most adamantly pro-EU party, and since the referendum, pro-Europeanism has been their main policy.

The referendumresulted inan overall vote to leave the EU, as opposed to remaining an EU member, by 51.9% to 48.1%, on a turnout of 72.2%.The vote was split between theconstituent countriesof the United Kingdom, with a majority inEnglandandWalesvoting to leave, and a significant majority inScotlandandNorthern Ireland,as well as an overwhelming 96% inGibraltar,(aBritish Overseas Territory), voting to remain.As a result of the referendum, the UK Government notified the EU of its intention to withdraw on 29 March 2017 byinvoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

On 12 April 2019, a new Eurosceptic party, theBrexit Partywas officially launched by the formerUKIPleaderNigel Farage.

In the2019 European Parliament election,theBrexit Partytopped the national poll by a large margin with 31.7% gaining 29 seats by running on a single policy of leaving the EU, versus the second-placed Liberal Democrats with 18.5% and 16 seats who promoted themselves as the party of Remain (the total vote for Remain-supporting parties was approximately the same as that for parties supporting a 'no-deal' Brexit). The Conservative Party suffered their lowest ever national vote share of 9.1% with just 4 seats following 3 years ofTheresa May's unsuccessful Brexit negotiations. The Labour Party's ambiguous position on Brexit – Corbyn readily accepted the result, but most of the party remained opposed – so leading to their vote share dropping significantly to 14.1% resulting in the loss of half their seats, down from 20 to 10 with the crumbling away of its mainstay support from in the big cities of the UK, especially London, being pro-EU.The rapid growth of the Brexit Party was a contributing factor – along with being unable to navigate an agreeable route between a ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ Brexit, even within her own party, let alone in Parliament – to Theresa May announcing on 24 May that she would step down as the Conservatives’ leader and Prime Minister on 7 June 2019.After the elections, the EuroscepticBlue Collar Conservativecaucus ofConservativeMPs was formed.

Following theelection of Boris Johnson as leaderin 2019, the Conservatives’ new Cabinet became a strong supporter of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union and its platform was changed to unanimously support EU withdrawal and there was a systematic campaign to purge by deselecting all pro-Europe MPs and candidates from the party for the2019 general election,where the Conservative Party adopted a clear ‘hard’ Brexit platform in its manifesto.

On 23 January 2020, the Parliament of the United Kingdom ratified a withdrawal agreement from the European Union, which was ratified by the EU Parliament on 30 January. On 31 January, the United Kingdom officially left the European Union after 47 years. During a transition period until 31 December 2020, the UK still followed EU rules and continued free trade and free movement for people within the European Union.

Counter-criticism

Ben Chu, writing forThe Independent,argued against the left-wing notion that the EU is a neoliberal organization, pointing to "high levels of social protection, state-owned rail companies, nationalised utilities and banks, various price controls and industrial interventions".

See also

• Anti-Federalism
• Balkanization
• European Referendum Campaign
• Europeanism
• Globalisation
• Institutions of the European Union
• Radical right in Europe
• Subsidiarity in the European Union(The rights and responsibilities of member states.)
• United States of Europe
• Fourth Reich
• Withdrawal from the European Union under Article 50
• States' rights(US)

References

Cited sources

• Alibert, Juliette (October 2015).Euroscepticism: The root causes and how to address them(PDF)(Report).Heinrich Böll Foundation.
• Szczerbiak, Aleks; Taggart, Paul (2008).Opposing Europe?: The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism.Vol. 1: Case Studies and Country Surveys. Oxford University Press, Oxford.ISBN978-0191531620.
• Bertoncini, Yves; Koenig, Nicole (November 2014).Euroscepticism or Europhobia: Voice vs Exit?(PDF)(Report).Jacques Delors Institute.
• FitzGibbon, John; Leruth, Benjamin; Startin, Nick, eds. (2016).Euroscepticism as a Transnational and Pan-European Phenomenon.Taylor & Francis.ISBN9781317422501.OCLC1292469703.
• Harmsen, Robert; Spiering, Menno, eds. (2004).Euroscepticism: Party Politics, National Identity and European Integration.Rodopi.ISBN9042019468.