Tag: euroscepticism

Despite austerity-led frustration, participants in next year’s EU elections must be aware that voting eurosceptics into the European Parliament may have important knock-on effects for EU legislation, including on border issues and the environment, say the authors of a new report.

Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted that the UK should remain in the EU in order to maintain influence in a global economy, risking the anger of eurosceptic MPs in his own Conservative party who favour UK withdrawal.

The new eurosceptic government in Iceland has announced a halt to the country’s EU accession talks, until Icelanders vote in a referendum within the next four years on whether they want membership negotiations to continue.

The European Union should brace for “chaos” after the European elections a year from now if the surprise victories by renegade, anti-EU parties in recent Italian and British elections are any sign of what is to come, European liberal leader Graham Watson said.

The question of Britain in Europe has been a running sore in British public life for too long, and as such has proved a constant irritant on both sides of the Channel. It needs to be settled, writes Malcolm Rifkind.

Iceland's anti-EU centre-right parties began talks yesterday (28 April) to form a new administration, promising to end years of austerity and provide debt relief to households, but haggling over which one of them will lead the government continues.

Holding together and strengthening the European Monetary Union is vital, but we must take care we do not sacrifice the foundations of peace and fraternity on which the European Union was founded, writes MEP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis.

Only one in three Britons would vote for the UK to remain part of the EU, according to a poll by Harris Interactive for the Financial Times.

With Prime Minister David Cameron having vowed to hold a referendum on UK membership of the EU, Britain's penchant for EU bashing is well publicised. But there are political parties in other member states which are far from in love with the European project, and whose stance against integration has been fanned by the worsening of the economic crisis.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday (6 January) that he would “look at arguments” to make it harder for nationals from EU countries to settle in Britain and claim social security benefits.

Over the past few days, the anti-European rhetoric coming from the British government has been increasing. But what effect does such talk have on Britain's standing in the EU?

Open Europe, a Eurosceptic think tank close to the Conservative party, has dismissed calls from Tory backbenchers that the UK should leave the EU, saying it is in Britain's national interest to stay.

Nicolas Sarkozy’s “letter to the French”, unveiled yesterday (5 April), contained no major new ideas on European matters, limiting itself largely to repeating already-announced proposals on  Schengen and ‘reciprocity’ in trade.  EurActiv France reports.

British Prime Minister David Cameron held telephone talks yesterday (14 December) with potential allies in the European Union as he seeks to avoid isolation after vetoing EU treaty changes to allow closer fiscal union by eurozone members. 

European integration has led to the current financial crisis and proposed solutions, such as strengthened eurozone economic governance, are likely to lead to excessive German influence and further constraints on businesses, British MP Bill Cash said in an interview with EurActiv. He argues that the only way to restore democracy and competitiveness in the United Kingdom is to withdraw from the EU through a referendum and revert to a looser European free-trade area.

José Manuel Barroso's State of the Union speech to the European Parliament presented a welcome contrast with the Euroscepticism and pessimism of public discourse in Europe today, argues Staffan Nilsson.

The optimistic tone Poland has adopted for its six-month presidency of the European Union is providing a welcome antidote to the reigning discourse of austerity, Euroscepticism and xenophobia in other countries, argues Staffan Nilsson.

Just 42% of Europeans say they trust the European Union, according to a new opinion poll, down six percentage points in just six months.

A British Eurosceptic MEP branded the new president of the European Council a "damp rag" from a "non-country" on 24 February. The personal attack shocked the normally consensual European Parliament.

The Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group, a new far-right political faction in the European Parliament, intends to "invest some money getting a proper legal opinion on these 'guarantees' given to Ireland by EU leaders," Nigel Farage, the group’s co-President, told EurActiv in an interview.

"Anti-Commission sentiment seems to have grown in France," writes Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform (CER), in a January paper.

Some Eurosceptic politicians have launched a campaign as Germany prepares to revive the text during its upcoming EU presidency.

In an exclusive interview Reijo Kemppinen, the head of the Commission's EU representation in the UK, explains his plan to move the British debate away from the useless 'to be or not to be' discussion.

Eurosceptics come in many guises - from the Czech 'Eurorealists' to the UK's 'anti-Europeans'. EurActiv homes in on the phenomenon in the UK, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic.