Brexit Dilemma and the Future of Euroscepticism

Year 2023, , 618 - 629, 30.06.2023

Zeynep Kaplan

https://doi.org/10.25204/iktisad.1230211

Abstract

The United Kingdom (UK) has always been sceptical towards the European integration initiative and European Union (EU) membership has been a controversial issue in UK politics throughout the decades. Following the historic referendum questioning the UK’s EU membership, the withdrawal of the UK from the EU (Brexit) has been on the top of the agenda both in the UK and the EU. Brexit referendum result raised concerns about the impact of UK’s exit from the EU on other EU member states’ (MS) perceptions on EU full membership and the future of EU integration. Thus, there were concerns whether Eurosceptic tendencies would increase among the political parties. In this framework, the purpose of the article is to discuss the extent to which the UK's decision to leave the EU has affected the Eurosceptic attitudes of political parties towards the EU. Although there were concerns whether Brexit would trigger a domino effect that would pose a threat to European integration, the public and political support towards EU integration and full membership remained mostly moderate. Devoting specific focus to the impact of Brexit on the future of Euroscepticism, this paper also discusses why Brexit appears to have less impact on Eurosceptic tendencies of political parties than it was anticipated. However, Euroscepticism in the MSs is likely to depend on the series of future crises the EU would face and the future success of the UK-EU relations.

Keywords

European Union, Brexit, Euroscepticism

Brexit İkilemi ve AB Şüpheciliğinin Geleceği

Abstract

Birleşik Krallık (BK), Avrupa entegrasyon girişimine karşı her zaman şüphe ile yaklaşmış ve Avrupa Birliği (AB) üyeliği BK siyasetinde yıllar boyu tartışılan bir konu olmuştur. BK’nin AB üyeliğini sorgulayan tarihi referandumun ardından, BK'nin AB'den ayrılma süreci (Brexit) hem BK hem de AB’nin gündeminde ilk sıralarda yer almıştır. Brexit referandum sonucu, BK’nin AB’den ayrılmasının diğer AB ülkelerinin AB üyelikleri ve AB entegrasyonunun geleceği hakkındaki algıları üzerindeki etkisine ilişkin endişeleri arttırmıştır. Dolayısıyla, siyasi partiler arasında Avrupa şüpheci eğilimlerin artıp artmayacağı konusunda endişeler ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu kapsamda çalışmanın amacı, BK’nin AB'den ayrılma kararının siyasi partilerin Avrupa şüpheci tutumlarını ne ölçüde etkilediğini tartışmaktır. Brexit'in Avrupa bütünleşmesine tehdit oluşturacak bir domino etkisini tetikleyip tetikleyemeyeceğine dair endişeler olsa da AB entegrasyonuna ve tam üyeliğe yönelik kamuoyu ve siyasi destek çoğunlukla ılımlı kalmıştır. Brexit'in Avrupa şüpheciliğinin geleceği üzerindeki etkilerine odaklanan bu çalışma ayrıca Brexit'in siyasi partilerin Avrupa şüpheci eğilimleri üzerinde neden tahmin edildiğinden daha az etkiye sahip olduğunu tartışmaktadır. Buna rağmen, üye ülkelerdeki AB şüpheciliği AB'nin ileride karşı karşıya kalacağı krizler ve BK-AB ilişkilerinin gelecekteki başarısına bağlı olacaktır.

Keywords

European Union, Brexit, Euroscepticism

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