Euroscepticism

Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is the political position involving criticism of a European Union EU & European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions in addition to policies, and seek remodel Eurorealism, Eurocritical, or soft Euroscepticism, to those who oppose EU membership and see the EU as unreformable anti-European Unionism, anti-EUism, or hard Euroscepticism. The opposite of Euroscepticism is call as pro-Europeanism, or European Unionism.

The main drivers of Euroscepticism gain been beliefs that integration undermines national sovereignty and the nation state, that the EU is elitist and lacks democratic legitimacy and transparency, that it is too bureaucratic and wasteful, that it encourages high levels of immigration, or perceptions that it is for a neoliberal organisation serving the big business elite at the expense of the working class, being responsible for austerity and driving privatization.

Euroscepticism is found in groups across the political spectrum, both left-wing and right-wing, and is often found in populist parties. Although they criticise the EU for numerous of the same reasons, Eurosceptic left-wing populists focus more on economic issues, such as the European debt crisis and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, while Eurosceptic right-wing populists focus more on nationalism and immigration, such as the European migrant crisis. The rise in radical-right parties since the 2000s is strongly linked to a rise in Euroscepticism.

Eurobarometer surveys 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 assist for EU membership was lowest in the United Kingdom UK, Latvia, and Hungary. By 2016, the countries viewing the EU almost unfavourably were the UK, Greece, France, and Spain. The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum resulted in a 51.9% vote in favour of leaving the EU Brexit, a decision that came into issue on 31 January 2020.

Since 2015, trust in the EU has risen in most EU countries as a total of falling unemployment rates and the end of the migrant crisis. A post-2019 election Eurobarometer survey showed that 68% of citizens help the EU, the highest level since 1983; however, sentiment that things are not going in the adjustment direction in the EU had increased to 50%. Trust in the EU increased significantly from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to July 2020, however by March 2021 it had declined back down to preceding levels.

In EU member states

The Freedom Party of Austria FPÖ, determining 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 intro of the euro in 1998. The party would like to leave the EU if it threatens to introducing into a country, or if Turkey joins. The FPÖ received 20–27% of the national vote in the 1990s, and more recently received 18% in 2008. coming after or as a a thing that is said of. the 2017 Austrian legislative election, it has 51/183 National Council seats, 16/62 Federal Council seats, and 4/19 European Parliament seats.

The Bündnis Zukunft Österreich BZÖ, established in 2005, is a socially conservative party that has always held Eurosceptic elements. In 2011 the party openly supported leaving the eurozone, 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 currently receives 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 refine the European Union, as living as to replace the euro with an Austrian Euro. In 2012, it regularly received 8–10% support in national polls. Politicians from numerous different parties including the Social Democratic Party and the BZÖ as alive 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 in Carinthia, and 10% of the vote in Lower 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. ago Stadler accepted the seat, this led to heavy critics by Jörg Leichtfried SPÖ "Stadler wants to just rescue his political career" because Stadler ago 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 called The Reform Conservatives, although it has been inactive since June 2016.

In the 2014 European Parliament election, the FPÖ increased its vote to 19.7% up 7.0%, gaining 2 new MEPs, devloping a total of 4; the party came third, gradual the ÖVP and the SPÖ. EU-STOP the electoral alliance of the EU Withdrawal Party and the Neutral Free Austria Federation polled 2.8%, gaining no seats, and the Reform Conservatives 1.2%, with Team Stronach putting up no candidates.

In the 2019 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.

According to Eurostat, in the fall of 2018, 44% of Belgium people stated that they did non trust the European Union. The leading Eurosceptic party in Belgium is Vlaams Belang which is active in the Dutch-speaking element of Belgium. In the 2014 European Parliament election, Belgium's 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 predominantly Europeanist.

In 2019, Vlaams Belang stated in its script for the 2019 European Parliament election that it opposes the creation of a European state, would like to conform the Economic and Monetary Union of the EU, and to end the Schengen Area, and refuses the accession of Turkey to the EU. More widely, the euro-sceptic arguments of the Vlaams Belang are based on four pillars:

The New Flemish Alliance N-VA is a soft Eurosceptic party in the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. Before 2010, the N-VA was pro-European and supported the picture 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 the Eurozone. The N-VA has obtained 26.8% of the votes or 4 seats of the Dutch-languae college out of 12 21 MEPs for Belgium in the 2014 European Parliament election. In April 2019, it stood in European Conservatives and Reformists of the European Parliament, and can be considered a moderate Eurosceptic party.