Euroscepticism in France: Past and Present
Abstract
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, victorious for the Brexit supporters, has become one of the most discussed international political events of 2016 and forced policy makers and academics to take a fresh look at prospects of the European integration. In this connection a case of France is of special interest. The author emphasizes that although France was one of the founding members of all European institutions, Paris has always been a difficult partner to Brussels, and Euroscepticism has deep roots in France. The paper examines the genesis and subsequent evolution of the French Euroscepticism and identifies current political positions of the Eurosceptic parties in France. In that context the author emphasizes that Euroscepticism is usually associated with far-right and nationalist political forces but in France it is also represented by left-wing parties. For example, a democratic socialist political party ‘La France Insoumise’, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who won an impressive 18 percent of the votes in the last presidential elections, harshly criticizes Brussel and does not rule out the possibility of France leaving the EU. The paper notes a general trend towards political polarization in the French society, accompanied by strengthening of the non-systemic candidates’ positions. At the same time traditional political parties, such as rightcenter ‘Les Républicains’, seek to adapt to changing preferences of the French electorate. They adopt certain Eurosceptic slogans and strident rhetoric against the EU. The author notes, that in doing so they follow the road travelled by the Conservative Party of Great Britain, which ended up in the European Union membership referendum. The author concludes that Marine Le Pen’s presidential electoral defeat in 2017 does not imply a defeat of the French Euroscepticism. On the contrary, both Eurosceptics and nationalists ceased to be marginalized and have strengthened their positions. Therefore, the possibility of Marine Le Pen’s assumption of the presidency should not be ruled out.
About the Author
R. I. Blagoveshchenskii
Saint Petersburg State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Roman I. Blagoveshchenskii – PhD Candidate at the School of International Relations
13B Universitetskaya Emb., St Petersburg, 199034
References
1. Byshok S. 2017. Novaya Evropa Vladimira Putina. Uroki Zapada dlya Rossii [New Europe of Vladimir Putin. Lessons of the West for Russia]. Moscow, Knizhnyi mir Publ. (In Russ.)
2. Vainshtein G.I. 2015. Evroskeptistism: Novyi faktor evropeiskoi politiki [Euroscepticism: New factor in European politics]. Mirovaya ekonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya, no. 8. (In Russ.)
3. Vasina M.V. 2017. Frantsuzskii evroskeptitsizm: sovremennye protsessy i dinamika [French Euroscepticism: Contemporary dynamics and processes]. Filo Ariadne, no. 2. Available at: www.filoariadne.esrae.ru/8-146 (accessed: 16.10.2017). (In Russ.)
4. Butorina O.V. (ed.). 2011. Evropeiskaya integratsiya [European integration]. Moscow, Delovaya literatura Publ. (In Russ.)
5. Sergeev V.M., Kazantsev A.A., Petrov K.E. 2017. Politika ‘meinstrima’ i ee al’ternativy v sovremennom zapadnom mire: na puti ot mirovogo ekonomicheskogo krizisa k ‘nevozmozhnoi politike’? [The policy of ‘mainstream’ and its alternatives in the modern Western World: On the way from the world economic crisis to ‘impossible politics?’]. Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya, no. 3, pp. 8–29. (In Russ.)
6. Timofeev P.P. 2017. Frantsuzskii evroskeptitsizm: istoriya i sovremennost’ [French Euroscepticism: History and the present time]. Kontury global’nykh transformatsii: politika, ekonomika, pravo, no. 10 (1), pp. 53–68. (In Russ.)
7. Fishman L.G. 2017. Populizm – eto nadolgo [Populism will be long lasting]. Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya, no. 3, pp. 55–70. (In Russ.)
8. Frolov D.S. 2007. Konstitutsiya ES: kak organizatsiya integratsii ne sostoyalas’ [EU Constitution: How integration failed]. In Pylin V.V., Chechulin A.V. (eds.). Problemy evropeiskoi integratsii: pravovoi i kul’turologicheskii aspekty [Problems of the European integration: Legal and cultural aspects]. Saint Petersburg, RGPU Publ. (In Russ.)
9. Huntington S. 1992. The clash of civilizations? Washington, D.C., American Enterprise Institute [Russ. ed.: Khantington S. 2017. Stolknovenie tsivilizatsii. Moscow, AST Publ.].
10. Shibkova M.O. 2016. Sovremennyi evroskeptitsizm kak vyzov evropeiskoi solidarnosti [Contemporary Euroscepticism as a challenge to European solidarity]. Vestnik MGIMO-Universiteta, no. 6 (51). (In Russ.)
11. Yakunin V.I. 2017. Phenomen evroskeptitsizma v kontekste elektoral’nykh protsessov sovremennoi Evropy [The phenomenon of Euroscepticism in the context of electoral processes in modern Europe]. Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya, no. 5, pp. 106–121. (In Russ.)
12. Buchanan T. 2012. Europe’s troubled peace: 1945 to present. 2nd ed. Hoboken, New Jersey, Wiley-Blackwell.
13. Davies P. 1999. The National Front in France. London, Routledge.
14. Declair E. 1999. Politics on the fringe: The people, policies and organizations of the French National Front. Durham, N.C., Duke University Press.
15. Drake H. 2005. French relations with the European Union. London, Routledge.
16. Givens T.E. 2005. Voting radical right in Western Europe. New York, Cambridge University Press.
17. Hainsworth P. 2008. The extreme right in Western Europe. London, Routledge.
18. Hainsworth P. 2016. The National Front: From ascendancy to fragmentation on the French extreme right. In Hainsworth P. (ed.). The politics of the extreme right from the margins to the mainstream. London, Bloomsbury Academic Publ., pp. 18–32.
19. Hainsworth P., O‘Brien C., Mitchell P. 2004. Defending the nation: The politics of Euroscepticism on the French Right. In Euroscepticism: Party politics, national identity, and European integration. Amsterdam, Rodopi, pp. 37–58.
20. Hix S. 1999. The political system of the European Union. Basingtoke, Macmillan Publ.
21. Hoffmann S. 2001. Obstinate or obsolete? France, European integration, and the fate of the nation-state. In Tiersky R. (ed.). Euroskepticism: A reader. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 35–72.
22. Joffe J. 2001. The euro: The engine that couldn’t. In Tiersky R. (ed.). Euroskepticism: A reader. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 245–255.
23. Jones A. 2007. Britain and the European Union. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.
24. Kuhn T. 2011. Europa ante portas: Border residence, transnational interaction, and Euroscepticism in Germany and France. European Union Politics, vol. 13, iss. 1, pp. 94–117.
25. Leconte C. 2010. Understanding Euroscepticism. London, Palgrave Macmillan.
26. Lewis-Beck M.S., Morey D.S. 2007. The French ‘petit oui’: The Maastricht Treaty and the French voting agenda. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 65–87.
27. Roxburgh A. 2002. Preachers of hate: The rise of the far-right. London, Gibson Square Books Ltd.
28. Seldon A., Snowdon P. 2015. Cameron at 10. The inside story 2010–2015. London, William Collins.
29. Shipman T. 2016. All out war: Brexit and the sinking of Britain’s political class. New York: Harper Collins.
30. Szczerbiak A., Taggart P. 2008. Conclusion: Opposing Europe? Three patterns of party competition over Europe. In Szczerbiak A., Taggart P. (eds.). Opposing Europe? The comparative party politics of Euroscepticism. Vol. I. Case studies and country surveys. Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 390–405.
31. Topaloff L.K. 2012. Political parties and Euroscepticism. London, Palgrave Macmillan.
32. Tsoukalis L. 2016. In defense of Europe: Can European project be saved? Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Review
For citations:
Blagoveshchenskii R.I. Euroscepticism in France: Past and Present. Lomonosov World Politics Journal. 2018;10(1):142-164. (In Russ.)
Views:
398
Email this article 