EU skepticism

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Multilingual protest against the EU constitution

As Euroscepticism or Euroscepticism is called a range of content items whose common feature is a critical examination or a rejection of European integration is. In contrast to the criticism of the concrete policies of their elected actors, EU skeptics criticize the fundamental political system and the goals of the European Union as such. Some critics only refer to certain sub-aspects, such as the construction of the euro (“ euro critics ”).

As in the 2016 Brexit referendum, skepticism about the EU is often linked to the desire to maintain or restore national sovereignty . European integration should therefore be halted or completely revised (e.g. by leaving the EU ). There is some evidence that the media perceived and politically articulated skepticism towards the EU and the euro seems to outweigh the actual rejection of the population. In fact, surveys show that a large majority of EU citizens support the European Union in principle.

The opposite position is European federalism , which is striving for even greater integration towards a European federal state.

History and lines of argument

The criticism of the supranational institutions was part of the history of the European integration process early on . In the 1950s, for example, the German SPD feared that European integration could become an obstacle to German reunification ; later it operated an integration-friendly EU policy. Charles de Gaulle , French President from 1958 to 1969, represented a strictly intergovernmentalist EU policy in the 1960s , which aimed at weakening the supranational commission and transforming the European Communities into a confederation . The most obvious was the rejection of supranational integration in Great Britain, which feared that it would lose its - actual or perceived - political superpower position in this way . That is why the United Kingdom did not initially join the European Communities and instead founded the purely intergovernmental EFTA . Only after their failure did Great Britain attempt to join the EC, which took place on January 1, 1973. Even after that, it took mostly cautious positions in further integration steps. Nevertheless, the fundamental necessity of European integration in all Western European countries was only questioned by a minority.

It was not until the 1980s that the public debate about the EU intensified, as a result of which EU-skeptical positions were also heard more strongly. This was particularly evident in the referendums in which various EU treaty reforms were rejected in several Member States, namely the Maastricht Treaty in Denmark in 1992, the Nice Treaty in Ireland in 2000 , the EU Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands in 2005 and in 2008 the Lisbon Treaty in turn in Ireland.

There are many reasons for rejecting supranational integration. An argument that is often put forward is concern about national independence, one's own way of life and identity. In Central Eastern Europe in particular, emphasis is placed on national sovereignty and dignity as a reaction to the decades-long dependence on the Soviet Union . Conversely, EU skeptics in Western Europe fear the rapid expansion of the EU that there will be too great a heterogeneity in the EU's value system and thus justify their rejection of progressive integration.

For those in favor of Brexit , the refugee crisis in Europe from 2015 , in which foreigners from poorer countries poured into the UK because control of their own borders had been given to the EU (which is factually incorrect), played an important role: Take back control ("regaining control!") and I want my country back ("I want my country back"; based on Margaret Thatcher's motto "I want my money back" ) were the key words.

The conditions in the EU are also criticized from a socio-economic perspective. On the one hand it is said by some economic liberals, for example , that the “EU bureaucracy ” is slowing down economic dynamism and should therefore be better replaced by a pure free trade area . On the other hand, the EU is at the same time accused of favoring escalating neoliberalism at the expense of the socially weaker. In the CEEC , the fear of selling out national assets to the economically stronger Western European companies arose in the course of economic integration . In the Western European countries this is countered by the fear of losing jobs and in the Scandinavian welfare states by the fear of the dismantling of social standards.

In addition, the so-called democratic deficit of the European Union is often argued. EU skeptics often take the view that the EU is violating the principle of subsidiarity , since many political regulations made at EU level, so the reading, would be more sensibly repealed at national, regional or local level. A waste of the administered funds and distributed subsidies is also criticized, as well as corruption and nepotism.

Lazaros Miliopoulos sees the term Euroscepticism often used very imprecisely - more in the sense of a journalistic “label” than in the sense of political theory . “Liberal opponents of the euro and critics of the way the EU and the European Central Bank (ECB) dealt with the European sovereign debt crisis are referred to as eurosceptics in the same way as left, national-conservative and right-wing national groups. Extremist organizations fall under the label as well as moderate forces from the right and left. "

Eurosceptic parties in the European Parliament

Positions that are skeptical of the EU are represented by some European parties that also form political groups in the European Parliament . In comparatively sharp opposition to European integration is the faction Identity and Democracy formed by right-wing populists (formerly Europe of Nations and Freedom ), in which the right-wing extremist French Front National , the Dutch Partij voor de Vrijheid , the Italian Lega Nord , the alternative for Germany and the Freedom Party of Austria are represented.

The Eurosceptic parliamentary groups also include European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR), with the Polish Law and Justice Party (PiS) as the largest shareholder. Preservation or strengthening of national sovereignty rights are in the foreground here.

Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) was another Eurosceptic parliamentary group that brought together the British UKIP and the Italian MEPs from the MoVimento 5stelle party . The position of the EFDD Group on European integration was not clear; Most of its members, however, rejected the membership of their respective national states in the European Union or demanded its conversion into a purely intergovernmental confederation .

Euroscepticism in crisis situations in the EU

In view of the variable positioning, a clear assignment to the Eurosceptic camp sometimes seems doubtful, as Lazaros Miliopoulos explains. Despite its political and ideological right-wing course, Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party did not take eurosceptic positions in election campaigns, in contrast to the Czech ODS or the Polish PiS. "Although Hungary's restrictive migration policy is currently under suspicion of undermining the EU's fundamental values, instead of dissociating itself from the Union in domestic politics and demonstrating emphatic Euroscepticism, Orbán continues to promote the EU and at the same time become involved in it own controversial migration policy positions. ”However, in the course of the migration crisis, he had struck a much more Eurosceptic tone.

According to Claus Offe , the right-wing populists in “core Europe” fought the EU and the monetary union not because of the social misery and unemployment in the “periphery” caused by the misconstructed common currency, “but because they could be supported by the euro winners The consequences of the single currency and the liberalization of goods and labor markets go too far. What they conjure up and seek to restore is the economic, political and cultural protective function of territorial borders. ”Left-wing populists, on the other hand - for example in Greece, Spain or Italy - have so far achieved success in mobilizing“ by making the EU responsible for the debt crisis and the end accused her of the economic and social crisis that followed or operated with the charge of failed crisis management. "

According to Miliopoulos, the refugee crisis could lead to the EU skepticism, which is fixated on sovereignty, being charged in a culturalist and anti-immigration way. On the other hand, the euro crisis and the resulting austerity policy would entail “a partly left-wing nationalist partly anti-capitalist charge of economic Euroscepticism”, so that the already existing transitions between EU-skeptical and EU-hostile forces and between left and right groups within the EU-skeptical spectrum would become even more fluid.

literature

Web links

Commons : EU skepticism  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Bertelsmann Stiftung , October 21, 2015: EU citizens continue to trust the European Union and the euro
  2. ↑ “In Poland 72 percent of citizens have a positive attitude towards the EU, in Hungary 61 percent. For months, in the case of Hungary even for years, there have been repeated conflicts between the governments of the two countries in exchange with Brussels. However, these will probably not lead to the citizens rejecting the EU as a whole. " In: Wirtschaftswoche , June 8, 2016 (accessed on January 19, 2018)
  3. ↑ Eurobarometer: Record approval for the EU. Retrieved May 6, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Great Britain is neither part of the Schengen area , nor does it take part in EU domestic and migration policy .
  5. ↑ Klaus-Peter Schmid: Too much of a good thing . In: Zeit Online from May 3, 1996.
  6. ↑ Florian Diekmann, Philipp Wittrock: Privileges for EU officials: Brussels bureaucrats cash in on the crisis . In: Spiegel Online from August 2, 2012.
  7. ↑ Daniel Hannan: The EU and Money: Corrupt, expensive, wasteful, inefficient . In: Spiegel Online from March 19, 2007.
  8. ↑ Lazaros Miliopoulos: European Euroscepticism? A theoretical approximation. In: Jürgen Rüttgers , Frank Decker (Ed.) 2017, p. 59.
  9. ↑ "Orbán spoke, among other things, of the fact that» there is no longer any freedom in the common house of Europe «, that it is» forbidden to say «that» migration is a threat to Europe «and that» the masses of people are creeping out other civilizations, "endanger our way of life, our culture, our customs and our Christian traditions", "Brussels" inspires for ideological reasons and thus "breaks the millennia of Europe". "(Lazaros Miliopoulos: European Euroscepticism? A theoretical one Approach. In: Jürgen Rüttgers , Frank Decker (Ed.) 2017, p. 65.)
  10. ↑ Claus Offe: Europe in the trap. Berlin 2016, pp. 85 and 121.
  11. ↑ Lazaros Miliopoulos: European Euroscepticism? A theoretical approximation. In: Jürgen Rüttgers , Frank Decker (Ed.) 2017, p. 73.