It would seem unreasonable to tar all these parties with exactly the same eurosceptic brush. After all, there are a wide range of nuances between a questioning euroscepticism which is broadly in favour of the EU, but points out its deficiencies and the outright anti-Europeanism which spends all its time rubbishing the entire European project.
UK (turnout up from 24 per cent to 38.9 per cent): The UK is widely regarded as one of the doyens of euroscepticism and the results of the European elections merely served to 'enhance' that reputation. Given that UKIP's agenda is to get Britain out of Europe, it seems fair to describe them as 'anti-Europeans'.
At a press conference in central London, the newly-elected MEP Robert Kilroy-Silk was asked what he hoped to do in the European Parliament, to which he replied: "Wreck it. Expose it for the waste and the corruption and the way it is eroding our independence and our sovereignty." Kilroy-Silk, a member of UKIP, whose aim is to pull Britain out of Europe completely, is clearly tapping into the UK public's perception of large-scale waste of taxpayers' money and 'Brussels diktats'.
The former TV presenter, who is a household name in the UK, resigned from his BBC talk show in disgrace after he referred to Arabs as "suicide bombers" and "limb-amputators" in a highly controversial column in a tabloid newspaper.
At a Westminster gathering following the elections, eleven of UKIP's new MEPs told UK daily the Times that they would use their increased presence in Brussels and Strasbourg to "obstruct and delay" new European laws which would otherwise impose burdens on British people and that they would use the extra funding they will receive from the European Union in allowances and expenses to help build the UKIP into "a genuine mass movement" over the coming year.
UKIP's rise means that both the Conservative and Labour parties will need to look long and hard at how they deal with Britain's problematic relationship with Europe. In an article in the daily newspaper the Guardian, Vernon Bogdanor, who is professor of government at Oxford University, writes that "today it [tribal politics] locks together incompatibles - Europhiles and Europhobes in the Tory party, traditional socialists together with New Labour - in loveless and artificial marriages".
Sweden (turnout do wn from 38.8 to 37.2 per cent): Swedes are also well know in Brussels for their eurosceptic tendencies which have previously managed to find its expression in established political parties. Junilistan (June List), however, is a brand new eurosceptic Swedish party whose success came right out of the blue. The party is lead by the 67 year old Nils Lundgren, former chief economist of the bank, Nordbanken, who wows to concentrate on crossborder issues, and not on "details like bathing water quality". Its members have their political roots in parties ranging from socialdemocrats to liberals and christian democrats.
Junilistan is not opposed to continued Swedish EU membership but wishes to end "EU-centralism" and reaffirms "the right for each member states to set clear limits to the powers of the EU". It defends a Sweden with a modern liberal economy which must not give up ever more powers to a "giant centralised bureaucracy with scarce political legitimacy"
The party wants as Swedish referendum on the Constitution and argues the case for a 'no' vote to the Constitution, which will give "big member states more power at the expense of smaller ones". Furthermore, the party wants a formal and permanent opt-out to the euro membership to which the Swedes voted 'no' in a referendum in September 2003.
In an analysis in the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter commentator Henrik Brors writes on the evolution of Swedish EU scepticism: "What was formerly seen as the protest coming from the rural and working population against the elite in Stockholm has now paradoxically been taken over by a party founded by elderly men from the economic elite in Stockholm"
Poland (turnout - 20.4 per cent): Voter apathy during the European elections was a particular feature of Poland, which registered one of the lowest turnouts in its history. Poland's brand of euroscepticism seems to have much to do with disillusionment.
The BBC reported the leader of the Samoobrona party, Andrzej Lepper, as saying that "self-defence isn't just about defending yourself... it's also about going on the attack. We're attacking the government, and we're attacking the terms on which we joined the European Union. We've got a production capacity which we're not being allowed to use... so unemployment is being created by the EU, and we say 'no'."
Krzystof Bobinski, from the Platforma Obywatelska (Civic Platform) which has 15 MEPs, told the BBC that Polish people are unhappy, have low wages or are unemployed and they are very happy to see a "radical demagogue" voicing their concerns.
The Czech Republic (turnout - 27.9 per cent): The Czech Republic's euroscepticism could be described as more measured. Petr Mach, Executive Director of the Center for Economics and Politics think-tank, describes the ODS as a 'eurorealist' party made up of sceptics, realists and pro-Europeans. He points out that the party is a much broader church than the "fundamentalist" Roman Catholic party and the agriculture-based movement of Samoobrona in Poland.
The political analyst notes that the ODS are fighting against the draft Constitution, which would reduce the country's voting power in Council, and against wasted EU money. He says that the Czech Republic will be a net contributor to the EU and that some of its EU income (eg market measures in agriculture whereby the government must make intervention purchases of milk and butter) actually increases prices to the detriment of Czech consumers.
Austria (turnout down from 49.4 per cent to 41.8 per cent): Austrian MEP Hans-Peter Martin was re-elected on an anti-corruption ticket "Let's clean up Brussels" and gained two seats. He is already well known for his antics in the Parliament and his electoral success is mainly due to backing from the Austrian daily tabloid newspaper Kronen-Zeitung as he did not run a traditional poster-based campaign.
The 47 year old former Spiegel journalist and best selling author rushed into the EP in 1999 topping the list of the Austrian Social Democrats, SPÖ. He has been frustrated since at not getting the group leader position. In 2003 he produced a hard-hitting report that denounced the influence of lobbyists on the work of the Parliament, claiming that MEPs regularly copy-pasted positions of business lobbyists into their legislative amendments.
Martin later earned the rage of fellow MEPs and was eventually booted out of the European socialists group PES in 2004, when he went public with claims of video taped evidence of more than 7,000 cases of MEPs picking up their 262 euro per diem allowances during sessions while in fact not being present.
Political scientist Peter Gerlich described Martin as "a populist lone fighter", while political analyst Hubert Sickinger said that Martin has given Austrian euroscepticism a face, but adding that he has a huge ego and only takes action in front of a camera.
It is presumed that Martin got his backing from voters of the far right Freedom party and SPÖ voters.
The Netherlands (turnout up from 30 per cent to 39.1 per cent): The Dutch 'Transparent Europe' party is led by Paul van Buitenen, a former Commission civil servant and EU auditor whose revelations of mismanagement contributed to bringing down the European Commission in 1999.
Paul van Buitenen's revelations of mismanagement in 1998 earned him a strong reputation as a whisteblower and his election campaign centred around the claim that nothing has really changed despite the Commissions promise of reforms.
"I know all the questions that have to be asked and I'm going to get some answers," he has stated.
Van Buitenen says he is not an 'anti European' and claims that his party will be apolitical. His movement is not be a traditional party of the left or the right, it will merely be fighting corruption, fraud and nepotism. His victory can be seen against the backdrop of Dutch voters becoming increasingly critical about EU in a political context where the Netherlands are the biggest net contributors to the EU budget.
