Euroscepticism trends in the european elections of 2014 and 2019

Abstract

A thesis presented on the aspects of Euroscepticism, beginning with its first conceptualization, and covering the various social groups it represents. First of all, we will introduce Euroscepticism as a notion and we will become aware of its history and the different types that it can be categorized according to theoreticians. As soon as we do this, we will follow its path through the last decades and we will indulge in different expressions of Euroscepticism, searching also for the roots of this phenomenon. Our main focus is the last two European elections, so we will mostly refer to the last decade and the augmentation of Euroscepticism until 2019. Each state of the European Union (EU) shall be examined separately as the rise of Euroscepticism is not the same everywhere and Euroscepticism can be expressed in different variants, depending on the motivation and the aim of a Eurosceptic vote. Brexit is also a timely topic which should be inducted in the study as a separate chapter, since it is an ongoing phenomenon which has already affected EU and would for sure show whether the United Kingdom will entice more member-states to withdraw from the Union and help in the prevalent growth of Euroscepticism in the near future. Furthermore, we ought to investigate which kind of Euroscepticism can have a positive effect in the concept of European Integration as the EU can become stronger through this challenge and prove that its contribution is significant and therefore, there are fundamental reasons which support its existence in the European scene. In a final stage, we will analyze the answers of a questionnaire prepared particularly for this dissertation in regards with how 100 European citizens, who participated in the survey, see their state’s membership in the EU and the rise of Euroscepticism the last decade.