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Euroscepticism in Small EU Member States

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Euroscepticism in Small EU Member States EURO SCEPTICISM LATVIAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (LIIA) Address: 21 Pils Street, Riga, LV-1050, Latvia, www.liia.lv The Latvian Institute of International Affairs was established in May 1992, in Riga, as a non-profit foundation, charged with the task of providing Latvia’s decision-makers, experts, and the wider public with analysis, recommendations, and information about international developments, regional security issues, and foreign policy strategies and choices. It is an independent research institute that conducts research, publishes publications, as well as organises lectures, seminars, and conferences related to international affairs. IN SMALL EU MEMBER STATES FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG (FES) Address: 37-64 Dzirnavu Street, Riga, LV-1010, Latvia, www.fes-baltic.lv The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) was established in 1925 as a political legacy of Germany’s first democratically elected president, Friedrich Ebert. Ebert, a Social Democrat from a humble crafts background, who had risen to hold the highest political office in his country in response to his own painful experience in political confrontation, proposed the establishment of a foundation to serve the following aims: – furthering political and social education of individuals EDITOR from all walks of life in the spirit of democracy and pluralism, – facilitating access to university education and research for gifted young people by providing scholarships, – contributing to KARLIS BUKOVSKIS international understanding and cooperation. As a private, cultural, non-profit institution, it is committed to the ideas and basic values of social democracy. EURO SCEPTICISM IN SMALL EU MEMBER STATES EURO SCEPTICISM IN SMALL EU MEMBER STATES EDITOR KARLIS BUKOVSKIS EURO SCEPTICISM LATVIAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS IN SMALL EU MEMBER STATES RIGA, 2016 EURO SCEPTICISM IN SMALL EU MEMBER STATES EDITOR KARLIS BUKOVSKIS LATVIAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS RIGA, 2016 EUROSCEPTICISM IN SMALL EU MeMBER STATES The book “Euroscepticism in Small EU Member States” is an effort by an international team of analysts to address the Euroscepticism phenomenon in small European Union Member States. It draws the general conclusions that the observed small countries of different enlargement periods, namely, Luxembourg, Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Latvia, Bulgaria and Croatia, are realists in terms of reckoning the political and economic gains from the membership and future amendments of the EU policies. Although Eurosceptic ideas are not unfamiliar in any of the countries, calls for exiting the European Union are marginalised. The book is the result of successful collaboration between the Latvian Institute of International Affairs and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Editor: Karlis Bukovskis Authors: Aldis Austers, Nadine Besch, Ilvija Bruge, Karlis Bukovskis, Isabel Estrada Carvalhais, Sandra Fernandes, John FitzGibbon, Tuomas Iso-Markku, Guido Lessing, Antoinette Primatarova, Visnja Samardzija Project coordinator: Ilvija Bruge Scientific reviewers: Toms Rostoks (University of Latvia) and Viljar Veebel (University of Tartu) The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs or the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung or represent the opinion of any government authority or ministry. This publication is an effort of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs with fundamental support by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. English language editor: Livija Uskalis Cover design: Kristine Pluksna-Zvagule Layout: Oskars Stalidzans The book is published in collaboration with the Publishers Zinātne © Authors of the articles, 2016 © Cover design: Kristine Pluksna-Zvagule, 2016 ISBN 978-9984-583-81-5 © Latvian Institute of International Affairs, UDK 339.9(4) + 327(4) Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: ENTERING THE AGE OF EUROSCEPTICISM Karlis Bukovskis . .7 EUROPHILE BY NATURE: THE CASE OF THE SMALL GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG Nadine Besch & Guido Lessing ...............................11 EUROSCEPTICISM IN IRELAND: THE DIFFICULTY OF COMPETING WITH HISTORIC EU-RELATED SUCCESSES John FitzGibbon . 30 PORTUGAL: A WEAK CASE FOR EUROSCEPTICISM Sandra Fernandes & Isabel Estrada Carvalhais . 47 FINLAND – PRO-EUROPEAN ARGUMENTS PREVAIL DESPITE THE RISE OF EUROSCEPTICISM Tuomas Iso-Markku.........................................61 THE CASE OF LATVIA: POPULAR EUROSCEPTICISM IN IMPASSE Aldis Austers ...............................................85 POPULISM, NATIONALISM AND EUROSCEPTICISM. THE BULGARIAN CASE Antoinette Primatarova.....................................108 HOW EUROSCEPTIC IS CROATIA? Visnja Samardzija ..........................................124 CONCLUSIONS ON THE SMALL EUROPEAN HARDLINERS Ilvija Bruge & Karlis Bukovskis . .144 ABOUT THE AUTHORS ....................................157 INTRODUCTION: ENTERING THE AGE OF EUROSCEPTICISM Karlis Bukovskis For almost a decade, the European Union has faced major problems, one after another. Traditionally, each crisis has made the EU stronger and more integrated. The European Union countries have been facing problems and closer coordination and delegation of responsibilities to supranational institutions generally leading to a solution. Since the end of the Cold War, among others, Europe has experienced German reunification and post-Communist transitions, the rise of international terrorist organisations, economic and financial problems, a migrant crisis and finally the referendum for continued European Union membership in the United Kingdom. During these years, the EU has, with varying results negotiated and adopted the Maastricht Treaty, the Amsterdam Treaty, and the Treaty of Lisbon (the reapproached Constitutional Treaty), and introduced the Eurozone. The sovereign debt crisis alone resulted in the adoption of several new economic governance instruments, such as the so-called Fiscal Compact, European Semester, Banking Union, and Capital Markets Union, and the completion of the Economic and Monetary Union is scheduled to be implemented by 2025. The EU is going through perpetual change. In the current situation, the question of survival of the European project has become a household feature. Fears, or in some cases hopes, that one might be witnessing the decay and dissolution of the EU are taking on momentum. The reality is that political organisations disappear only when they are acted against. Active and popular actors are needed for an organisation or political idea to lose its momentum and dissolve. Therefore, until recently, only the “Empty chair crisis” 7 of 1965-1966 was a true moment of political crisis for the European integration project, as it was actively led by Charles de Gaulle. Today, with the prolonged Greek crisis, David Cameron and the Brexit vote, the increased popularity of Marie Le Pen and the rise of such parties as Alternative für Deutschland and Prawo i Sprawiedliwość in Poland, there are now too many leaders acting against the political unity and trustworthiness of the European Union. The anti-Europeans have the luxuries of simplicity in their messages. One of the greatest challenges for the European Union nowadays is its complex institutional and political settings and decision-making processes that makes it unappealing to the masses. Due to the changes, consensuses, opt-outs, compromises between the interpretation of inter-governmentalism and federalism during particular periods of decision-making, the European project has become increasingly unclear for non-professionals. This piecemeal engineering of trust that is European integration has resulted in a complicated framework of rules and regulations with blurred institutional responsibilities and an incomprehensible bureaucratic machinery. Humans naturally fear and dislike issues they do not understand, especially if those issues are often seen as unfair through the actions of those in power. This gives enough ground for the emergence of Euroscepticism, not only in the aforementioned large EU countries, but also in the small ones. Traditionally, analysts tend to look at the large European Union countries to discuss and predict the future development vectors of the EU while forgetting that the majority of the EU Member States are small countries. The European Union has successfully embraced a great number of countries that are considered relatively small by their economies, political influence, population size or other characteristics. These are the small countries that have made foreign policy choices to integrate into multilateral international organisations and/or bandwagon themselves to friendly large countries. And it is a vast constellation of small countries looking for their geopolitical security, a safe economic environment or cultural sustainability in the European Union. Hence, the main premise of this book is to explore 8 the state of play, wishes and motivations of the small EU Member States in these uneasy times for the Union. The book “Euroscepticism in Small EU Member States” engages in an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by the European Union, with the aim of contrasting the attitudes towards the European integration process in small Eastern European, Southern, Northern and Western European countries of different enlargement periods. Small countries picked from each of the enlargement periods include members of the EU1957 (Luxembourg), the EU1973 (Ireland), the EU1986 (Portugal), EU1995 (Finland), the EU2004 (Latvia), the EU2007 (Bulgaria)
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