EU Elections

EUOBSERVER
To fight
euroscepticism,
Europe’s
economies
need a boost
There are two explanations for growing anti-EU sentiment: the
emergence of identity issues and culture wars, plus austerity and
economic decline.
By JUDITH ARNAL
Euroscepticism is of increasing relevance in the context of a
‘permacrisis’ (sovereign debt crisis, Brexit, Covid-19, invasion of
Ukraine, among others) affecting the EU.
Political parties that integrate into the far-right Identity and
Democracy (ID) political family, i.e. the most eurosceptic party
in the European Parliament and subject to a cordon sanitaire,
have recently made it to power in some member states — or are
gaining ground.
These are the cases, for instance, of the Lega [League] in Italy,
which is at present a coalition partner in the government
of Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia [Brothers of Italy]; Geert
Wilders’ Partij voor de Vrijheid [Party for Freedom, PVV] in
the Netherlands, which won national elections in November
2023 but has not at the time of writing succeeded in forming a
government; Rassemblement National [National Rally], which
under Marine Le Pen’s leadership made it to the second round
Interestingly, euroscepticism does
not seem to be an issue in the
member states — Greece, Ireland,
Portugal, Spain and Cyprus — that
suffered austerity measures.