Europeanization and Euroscepticism: Experiences from Poland and the Czech Republic Søren Riishøj Associate professor Department of Political Science and Public Management University of Southern Denmark Email-address:
[email protected] Poli tical Science Publications No. 25/2010 This publication focuses on the phenomenon Euroscepticism and its manifestations in the EU countries from the East. The scholary interest in Euroscepticism grew substantially after the Danish, Irish, French and Netherland “no’s” at EU-referenda and the manifestation of “soft” Euroscepticism in most new EU member countries from the East. Special sections are devoted to EU policy and Euroscepticism in Poland and the Czech Republic. The presentation begins with a brief presentation and clarification of the concepts of national and European identity and after that the phenomena of “Europeanization” and “Euroscepticism” including the most relevant classifications and types of Euroscepticism. Some of those concepts and classifications will be included in the sections dealing with manifestation of Euroscepticism in the region as a whole and in Poland and the Czech Republic in particular. Special emphasis is laid on state strategies and party-based Euroscepticism As we shall see in the following, the manifestations of “Eurorealism” and “Euroscepticism have differed much between the countries, also between the two rather “soft” eurosceptic countries, Poland and Czech Republic – and that before as well as after the two countries accession to the EU in 2004. Key words: National and European identity, Europeanization, Euroscepticism, Poland and the Czech Republic 2 National and European identity The concept “national identity” was the object of several scholarly studies already back in the 1950s and 1960s, e.g.