EUROSCEPTICISM IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
ANALYSIS OF THE LEGISLATIVE AND POLITICAL BEHAVIOR OF EUROSCEPTIC MEMBERS OF THE EP IN THE FOURTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH LEGISLATURES (1994-2009)
Keywords:
European Parliament, Euroscepticism, Eurosceptic MEPs’ legislative and political behaviorAbstract
Opposition to European integration, even if marginal for decades, became a transcendental dimension of the political system of the European Union (EU) in recent years. This issue is particularly relevant in the European Parliament (EP), the only European institution directly elected by citizens. This paper analyzes specifically the opposition to European integration in the framework of the EP, expressed in the legislative and political behavior of Eurosceptic Members of the EP (making the distinction between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ Eurosceptic MEPs) in the fourth (1994-1999), fifth (1999-2004) and sixth legislatures (2004-2009). Throughout history there have been Eurosceptic parties or factions in the EP, but the transfer of Eurosceptics from the national political arena into the PE clearly manifested itself in the fourth legislature when the first representatives of political parties focused on their opposition to the EU joined the EP. This trend was confirmed, with some ups and downs, in successive legislatures. The paradox to Eurosceptic MEPs is that they managed to be elected as members of an institution they oppose and, having assumed their positions, they must operate within it. The fact that Eurosceptic parties differ in the intensity of their opposition to European integration and on the arguments presented to oppose it, are reflected in different trends of behavior among their representatives in the European Parliament.
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