DEBATING EUROPE SERIES Seminar 4: EUROSCEPTICISM: CRITICAL THINKING IN THE UK LEE MCGOWAN QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST
Euroscepticism 'expresses the idea of contingent or qualified opposition, as well as incorporating outright and unqualified opposition to the process of European integration‘ (Taggart 1998: 366) But need to be more precise 1 - Hard Euroscepticism implies outright rejection of the entire project of European political and economic integration and opposition to their country joining or remaining members of the EU’ 2 - Soft Euroscepticism involves contingent or qualified opposition to European integration and can, in turn be further sub-divided into 'policy' Euroscepticism and 'national interest‘ Euroscepticism’ (Taggart and Szczerbiak 2001)
EUROPHILEEUROPHOBE Support for the EU EU OptimistEuroenthusiasts europragmatists EU PessimistEuroscepticsEurorejects
Euroscepticism has become major theme within both parliamentary and public discourse Need to understand context and country under investigation UK PUBLIC DEBATE in 1980s 1985 in The Times (Harmsen and Spiering, 2004) Anti-marketeers had been widely used term Thatcher speech in Bruges, 1988 Maastricht Treaty, eurosceptics
HOW TO MEASURE: 3 DOMAINS OF EUROSCEPTICISM 11 POLITICS (discourse within national parties and interest groups on the EU) 22 POLICIES (where policies set at the EU level impact on the MS – e.g agriculture, fisheries, euro, immigration) 33 CITIZEN/PUBLIC OPINION (and wider cultural aspects)citizen. `Uncorking the anti-EU bottle’ (Hix) from early 1990s - referenda – (1975 on EEC) but nothing since in the UK case when EU has evolved – hence current demands
CONSERVATIVES – more eurosceptical ◦ Thatcher’s first EEC summit in Strasbourg in 1979 – ‘she was hostile to the European Community form the beginning’ (Giscard in Moore, 447) ◦ “Far from joining a prosperous trading bloc, we shackled ourselves to a corpse. We are now actually having to pay to prop up a zombie currency we didn’t even join.” (Douglas Carswell) ◦ Cameron pledge (January, 2013) to hold a referendum if.... And things moved fast UKIP AND FARRAGE FACTOR ◦ ◦ Response to Van Rompuy ◦ ◦ ‘Dangerous people’ - WHO DO YOU PEOPLE THINK YOU ARE?
LABOUR PARTY – BLAIR COULD NOT DELIVER ON EURO – FEEDS INTO DICSUSSIONS OF UK as an ‘awkward partner’, ‘semi-detached’ LIBERAL DEMOCRATS PARTIES IN NORTHERN IRELAND MEPs from NI. Debates and Presence? FACTS: Clear shift to more critical position on EU membership over time ◦ May 2001 – 68% wanted to remain in UK to 19% wanted to leave – regional variations!!!! 1975 EEC Referendum where 66% voted to stay in the Common Market
19%. 19%.
1973 – ENTRY EU GOVERNANCE (via Treaties) INADEQUATE DISSEMINATION BY SUCCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS ◦ COMPLEX? ◦ INCOMPREHENSIBLE? ◦ ELITE DRIVE? ◦ UNDEMOCRATIC? ROLE OF MEDIA NEEDS EVALUATED VACUUM FOR ANTI-EU STORIES TO APPEAR
INFORMATION/MISINFORMATION/DISINFORM ATION KNOWLEDGE OF EU (especially among young) Does EU matter? Is there a better model for inter-state cooperation? What is in the referendum? What can be re-negotiated What happens if the UK were to leave Does a NO vote or eurosceptic drift actually threaten the UK union? UK cultural links to continent - language
NOT SAME AS EEC POST LISBON: COMPETENCES – ◦ 5 exclusive to the Union ◦ Shared ◦ Marginal POWERS FOR THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ◦ OLP: CO-LEGISLATOR MORE TRANSPARENCY CITIZENS PETITION SEEKING GREATER ENGAGEMENT
1973 – entry into EEC NI AND EU – Direct rule – marginal interest for many? 1975 – MAJORITY JUST VOTED YES in NI ◦ Difference then between two main communities MEPs – hear about elections to the EP and then? Funds and grants – CAP, CFP, URBAN INTERREG By 2002 – greater support – 2 main communities aligned and greater support for EU in NI than in GB - confirmed in 2008 EB Still marginal issue - Barroso Task Force