The aim of the paper was to analyse the current level of Euroscepticism in the European Union, to identify the current challenges populist parties face in the Euroscepticism realities and promotion. The main method of research was the observation method, which, together with the comparative method, revealed the selected issues of the paper. The conducted research has shown that the rise of populist parties primarily reflects a response to a wide range of rapid cultural changes undermining the core values and practices of Western societies. At the same time, the pandemic and changes in public consciousness have led to a decline in the activity of political parties and the introduction of Eurosceptic ideas per se. As part of the research, we have argued that the deepening of European integration is not perceived positively by member states as well, given the unnatural order of legal relations in the union. The findings will also require comparison with the results of the forthcoming EU elections, which has been identified as a roadmap for further author's research.

No abstract

The problem of Euroscepticism is especially relevant in connection with the growing electoral support of Eurosceptics, which was demonstrated by the May 2014 elections to the European Parliament. The purpose of this article was to identify the key features of modern understanding of this phenomenon and to determine the reasons for its significant relevance in Western Europe. Among the main research methods: political science — analysis of specialized scientific sources revealed features of political science interpretation of the concept; comparative — allowed to compare the attitude to the key ideas of Euroscepticism in different countries and at different times; historical — allowed to study the transformation of understanding of the concept of «Euroscepticism». The reasons for the active spread of Euroscepticism were: Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union; difficulties in the process of enlargement of the European Union in 2004; protracted financial and economic crisis; the refugee problem and the COVID19 epidemic with its socio-economic and political consequences.