ABSTRACT
Euroscepticism moved from the margins to the centre in national and European politics and is now a persistent and potent feature of contemporary politics (Hooghe and Marks 2007). European integration has been rejected through plebiscite in recent years in a number of countries culminating in the so-called Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom (UK) in June 2016. Once a phenomenon of the opposition, Euroscepticism can now be found among parties in government and it also cuts across the left–right political spectrum. Moreover, an anti-integration bloc of parties is permanently present in the European Parliament and has been growing to unprecedented levels following the European Parliament elections in 2014 (Delanty 2015).
