Euroscepticism

"[34] The Czech president Václav Klaus rejected the term Euroscepticism for 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.

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."

Support for EU membership was greatest in Malta (93%), Ireland (91%), Lithuania (90%), Poland (88%), Luxembourg (88%), Estonia (86%), and Denmark (84%), and lowest in Greece (57%), Bulgaria (57%), Cyprus (56%), Austria (54%), the United Kingdom (53%), and Italy (44%).

[52] 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.

[52] The April 2019 Eurobarometer showed 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.

[24] The Eurobarometer 93.1 survey was in the field across Europe when the European Council summit reached political agreement on a pandemic economic recovery fund (later named Next Generation EU) on 21 July 2020.

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.

Bulgaria's Minister of Finance, Simeon Djankov, stated in 2011 that ERM II membership to enter the Euro zone would be postponed until after the Eurozone crisis had stabilised.

Followers of Eurosceptic Attack tore down and trampled the European flag on 3 March 2016 at a meeting of the party in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, dedicated to the commemoration of the 138th anniversary of the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire.

[90] At the time of the Lisbon 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,[91][92][93] unlike the governing Civic Democratic Party, who endorsed it in the Chamber of Deputies.

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 a supranational entity.

[116] 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 the Eurozone.

[124][125] The government coalition in Greece was composed by Syriza and ANEL (right-wing hard Eurosceptic party, led by Panos Kammenos, who is the current Minister of Defence).

During the European parliamentary campaign of 2014 party Co-president András Schiffer described LMP as having a pronounced pro-integration position on environmental, wage and labour policy as supporting member state autonomy on the self-determination of local communities concerning land resources.

[137][138] The left-wing Irish republican party Sinn Féin expresses soft Eurosceptic positions on the current structure of the European Union and the direction in which it is moving.

[139] The party expresses, "support for Europe-wide measures that promote and enhance human rights, equality and the all-Ireland agenda", but has a "principled opposition" to a European superstate.

[151] A party that retains a Eurosceptic identity is the Northern League (LN), a regionalist movement led by Matteo Salvini favouring Italy's exit from the Eurozone and the re-introduction of the lira.

In addition, the European Union is criticized (especially for the austerity and the creation of the euro) by some left-wing thinkers, like the trade unionist Giorgio Cremaschi[162] and the journalist Paolo Barnard,[163] and some academics, such as Alberto Bagnai[164][165] the philosopher Diego Fusaro.

[168] Despite its national political alliance with the League during the Conte Cabinet, the Five Star Movement voted for Ursula von der Leyen, member of pro-EU Christian Democratic Union of Germany, as President of the European Commission.

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 main parties with Eurosceptic views are Law and Justice (PiS), United Poland (SP) and the Confederation Liberty and Independence and the main Eurosceptic politicians include Ryszard Bender, Andrzej Grzesik, Krzysztof Bosak, Dariusz Grabowski, Janusz Korwin-Mikke, Marian Kowalski, Paweł Kukiz, Zbigniew Ziobro, Anna Sobecka, Robert Winnicki, Artur Zawisza, and Stanisław Żółtek.

Thus, during the five years of the economic crisis, the Eurobarometer[194] shows 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.

[204] Despite an uncritical attitude towards the EU informed by a strong Europeanizing ideology as the consequence of a lack of coherent policy agendas from local political actors,[205] Euroscepticism exists in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[241] The European Union, and Britain's place in relation to it, is one of the primary issues today dividing opinion among the British public, political parties, media and civil society.

[242] Euroscepticism has been an element in British politics ever since the inception of the European Economic Community (EEC), the predecessor to the EU, and its salience as an issue has fluctuated widely over the years.

She never argued for secession while Prime Minister, envisioning continued membership of a less integrationist EEC, and became one of the most significant Eurosceptic voices in the United Kingdom in the 1990s, influencing the Conservatives’ view on the EU.

[253] In the election, the Lib Dem vote collapsed, leading to an outright Conservative victory, to the surprise of many, as national polling had consistently predicted another hung Parliament.

This historic electoral defeat – along with an inability to navigate an agreeable route between a "soft" or "hard" Brexit in Parliament – led to Theresa May announcing the day after the election that she would step down as the Conservatives' leader and Prime Minister on 7 June.

The election resulted in the largest overall majority for the Conservatives since the 1980s, the highest percentage of the popular vote for any party since 1979, and significant losses for the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrats.

Ben Chu, writing for The 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".