Updating the Ideas of Euroskepticism in the Countries of Western Europe: From Brexit to Covid19

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.