Euroscepticism as Ideology

In the ever-growing literature on Euroscepticism most commentators acknowledge that ideology is a factor in the formation of negative beliefs, opinions and attitudes concerning the European Union (EU). However, very few writers have given it the level of attention that it deserves. This is all the more paradoxical because the EU poses highly complex, inescapable ideological questions. Superimposed on its individual member states, the EU is a civilisational project for peace, prosperity and social harmony, but it is also a hybrid, interlocking set of institutions and processes of government and administration, laws and regulations, as well as an evolving set of policies straddling a wide range of sectors. While it is possible to make relatively objective assess­ments of particular features of the EU and its operations, the intricate, intertwined processes involved in European integration, as well as the imponderables involved in hypothesising alternatives to integration or even of predicting its future course, mean that the overall costs and benefits are not calculable by objective measurement, but are subject to ideologically coloured perceptions and evaluations. Ideology is therefore inseparable from political debate on the issue among parties, pressure groups and the media – offering cues to mass publics. This has been especially evident since the early 1990s, not only because the Treaty of European Union marked a major step change in integration, but also because the EU's role and status in the world have been, and are still being, transformed within the global reconfiguration of power since the end of the Cold War.