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“YOU’RE NOT LAUGHING now” was how Nigel Farage attempted to rub salt into the wounds of MEPs in the European Parliament five days after the 2016 Brexit vote.
Farage was in full gloating mode and then-Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker was baited into replying: “The British people voted for the exit. Why are you here?”
If only it were so easy. As Brexit dragged on, Farage remained in Brussels for almost four more years until the UK officially left the EU and lost all its MEPs.
But whether he meant it or not, there was a deeper meaning to Juncker simply asking Farage why he thought it necessary to be in the chamber.
The question of why Farage was there can also be taken to mean why someone so implacably opposed to the European project would devote so much time and effort to being there in the first place.
Many argue that in Farage’s particular case self-interest played a huge part – but speaking more generally, is the European Parliament the best place for a hardline eurosceptic?
It can be fairly argued that the best place to oppose the EU is at its heart, and that UKIP proved this by ultimately wedging the UK out.
But what if your goal isn’t an exit but rather to oppose greater integration?
Dr Ariadna Ripoll Servent is professor of EU politics at Salzburg Centre of European Union Studies and has written extensively about EU institutions and euroscepticism.
She has spoken about the various shades of eurosceptic MEPs elected to the European Parliament and says you can roughly group them as being either ‘hard eurosceptics’ or ‘soft eurosceptics’.
While the former may be opposed to membership or the very existence of the European Union, the latter are merely opposed to its goals and policies.
“Soft eurosceptics could be those that are more critical of specific policies or are critical of the system not being democratic enough,” she tells The Journal.
If you have more of a softer form of euroscepticism, we could compare that to some sort of opposition politics. So it’s not much different than when, in national parliaments, you have opposition parties that maybe criticise what is being done by the government.
She adds: “Some of the criticisms are perfectly fair: issues of transparency or migration policies, which, if you think of the EU becoming a “fortress Europe”, is something that the radical left tends to criticise a lot and many people agree with. So yes, I think it can be good for democracy and offers a broader range of opinions.”
2019
The European Parliament elections in May 2019 were among the most closely-watched such votes in the history of the bloc, a fact that was reflected in EU-wide turnout that reached a 25-year high.
The Brexit vote itself, and to a larger degree the election of Donald Trump in 2016, had many EU politicians nervous that a surge of eurosceptic MEPs would be elected as part of a wider populist wave.
The result saw an increase in the number of eurosceptic MEPs elected but the much-expected revolution failed to materialise.
Instead, the outcome led to a greater fragmentation within the European Parliament and alliances that are less clear.
In an analysis Ripoll Servent carried out in the months after the vote, she determined that about 31% of MEPs elected in 2019 could be considered eurosceptic, an increase on the 27% following the 2014 vote.
This 31% would however drop to 28% within the year when the Brexit Party’s members departed along with the rest of the UK’s cohort.
The nature of Brexit also had an impact on euroscepticism across Europe.
While some sceptics may have been emboldened by the result, the tortuous negotiations that followed did not present an attractive proposition for eurosceptics to sell to voters.
Brussels-based Dutch journalist Caroline de Gruyter has covered European politics for well over a decade and says that Brexit has caused eurosceptics to change tack.
“Many eurosceptics have seen that actually it’s not very smart to go for an exit,” she explains.
They don’t want to follow the example of the UK, I think they’ve seen the mess. So we should thank the UK for not having made any plans, for the messiness of it and for the hardness of their Brexit, because it really opened the eyes of a lot of sceptics on the continent.
“What they do want now is instead to stay in and change the EU from the inside. And this is what many of them are doing. They are forming groupings on a European level, contacting each other ever more frequently.”
De Gruyter argues that in the case of the UK – Northern Ireland issues aside – Brexit should have been “relatively easy” because the country wasn’t part of the Euro or the Schengen travel area, whereas other Member States are more intertwined.
Namechecking Poland and Hungary, she adds that another issue for eurosceptics in some states is that their countries “depend on the money” from the EU.
“UKIP never depended on European money. But the the ruling party in Poland does, Fidesz in Hungary [does]. [Hungarian prime minister] Viktor Orban’s power base is almost is almost exactly based on European subsidies and how they are distributed among partners or friends,” she says.
Ireland
When it comes to euroscepticism, making a precise calculation about how prevalent it is within a parliament or a political system is difficult because parties either reject the label or because the label simply doesn’t fit.
It is also complicated by the fact that euroscepticism exists from both left and right of the traditional ideological divide. It is for this reason that the term ‘Lexit’ became popular during the UK Brexit debate, representing those in favour of Brexit from a left-wing standpoint.
In last year’s book Euroscepticism and the Future of Europe, the book’s three editors outline this phenomenon:
Euroscepticism represents a self-standing cleavage cutting through the left-right divide. With the exception of Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, most European countries have experienced right and left-wing Euroscepticism in parallel, with the left focusing their discourse largely on a rejection of the so-called “ultraliberal” Europe.
The book goes on to detail the prevalence of euroscepticism in the politics of each member state, including Ireland.
The specific chapter on Ireland is written by Róisín Smith of the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) and notes that “there are no true Eurosceptic parties influencing the political system”.
This would likely lead to some debate, with political opponents frequently pointing out that Sinn Féin has opposed every Irish referendum that sought greater EU integration.
Sinn Féin representatives have defended this history and have argued that critiquing “the European project” should not equate to the label of eurosceptic.
In any event, Smith’s contention that euroscepticism does not influence Irish politics does not mean it doesn’t exist here, but rather that there is “no evidence” to suggest it is “shaping the political landscape”.
Candidates for the Irish Freedom Party, for example, which directly campaigns for an Irish exit from the EU, received 2% or less in first-preference votes in last year’s general election.
Smith writes:
Levels of euroscepticism exist in every EU Member State. In Ireland, there are varying degrees of anti-European, anti-establishment, anti-immigration and populist sentiments. Protest voting, political discontent and distrust for the governing parties did result in an increase in the vote for self-described ‘Euro-critical’ parties such as Sinn Féin, and gains for new groupings, for instance, the Anti-Austerity Alliance, People Before Profit and Independents in the 2016 general election.Notwithstanding this, it is inaccurate to overestimate and conflate the importance of anti-establishment and anti-elitist sentiment in the Irish context and in shaping the Irish voter towards an anti-European view. Anti-establishment sentiment, however, does not lead to a distinctly eurosceptic force.
Smith goes on to argue that the initial rejection of the Nice and Lisbon treaties in Ireland “had more to do with domestic and anti-establishment stances than hard euroscepticism”.
She adds that the “Brexit factor” has also improved the status of the EU among Irish people, arguing that it has “harnessed support for the EU”.
An annual poll by the European Movement Ireland has tracked sentiment about Ireland and the EU since 2013.
This year’s poll found only 9% of people supported Ireland leaving the EU whereas, in 2015, 23% of people said the country should leave if the UK voted to do so.
2022
The coming year represents an important juncture for the EU’s stability and for the development of euroscepticism across the bloc, specifically the euroscepticism of the far-right.
A growing east-west divide was highlighted during last month’s EU summit when Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic stood in opposition to Brussels after Poland’s Supreme Court had ruled that certain EU laws were unconstitutional.
It came on the back of a showdown at an earlier summit when Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban defended his parliament’s anti-LGBTQ law from criticism from various EU leaders.
Orban’s authoritarian regime in Hungary has been an increasing concern for many western nations and earlier this year his Fidesz party was forced out of the EPP European Parliament grouping which includes Fine Gael.
The departure of Fidesz from the group ended the debate between EPP parties over whether to kick Orban’s party out or keep his MEPs inside the tent to prevent them siding with far-right eurosceptics.
This fear was realised a number of months later when Orban, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party and 14 other parties across the right and far-right said they would work towards a “grand alliance” in the European Parliament.
Efforts at forming a coherent eurosceptic alliance of the right have long provided elusive but the joint declaration by the parties sought to move it a step closer.
Other signatories included Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy’s anti-immigration League, Santiago Abascal of the Spanish populist movement Vox and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland’s governing PiS party.
In the statement, they say that the EU “continues to pursue the federalist path that inexorably distances it from the peoples who are the beating heart of our civilisation”.
They urged “reform” of the bloc, adding that Europe’s “most influential patriotic parties” had “understood the importance” of joining forces.
Crucially, both Le Pen and Orban are facing elections next year that will go a long way to determining how influential the alliance may be.
Le Pen is facing an uphill struggle and, based on current polling, may not even make the run off vote against Emmanuel Macron, as she did in 2017.
Even if she or her similarly far-right rival Eric Zemmour do make the head-to-head vote against Macron, it is not expected that they will win the presidency outright.
Le Pen was in Budapest last month and met with Orban, refusing while there to criticise Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ law that’s at the centre of the row with Brussels.
Orban himself is facing tough parliamentary elections in April 2022 after six opposition parties took the unprecedented step of backing a single candidate as part of their efforts to unseat him.
Marki-Zay became the opposition candidate after a primary, consolidating an anti-Orban coalition in the first-past-the-post electoral system.
Polling is said to be neck-and-neck in the contest but the UN has already warned about the staunchly pro-Orban media attempting to “distort” the race.
Reflecting on the coming year, De Gruyter says that while you “never know” what can happen in elections, there have been various examples in recent years of centrist parties defeating populism in places like Switzerland and Austria, a fact she hopes is repeated:
“If we put our heads down and let them walk all over us, we can get into the kinds of scenarios where the far-right wins. But under normal circumstances we should keep answering these guys, because perhaps while they ask the right questions they never provide answers, so we should keep answering them and when they attack democracy, we should defend it.”
This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work is the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.
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“A number of people took to Aer Lingus’ Facebook page to complain about the situation, saying it resulted in people missing weddings and other events due to take place today”
Eh, it was hardly Aer Lingus’ fault for a thunderstorm happening was it?
Morons.
The thunderstorm is ISIS related. Apparently the would be tewwowist is under the weather and wants to strike the Aer Lingus infidels with a rod of lightening!
“tewwowist” – imagine Jonathan Ross is reading the news.
They can also claim €250 compensation from aer lingus for being delayed for more than 3 hours, it’s an IATA regulation regarding delayed flights within the EU. They shouldn’t have cut it so fine if they planned to go to a family ceremony, you should always factor in delays when travelling.
I am still figuring out the stupidest stuff yet till my next comment!! So far the journal and few other commentators are winning!!
Those IATA refunds don’t cover acts of God.
Not due to weather
Not for a weather related delay they can’t.
Airport Closed. How was that a fault with Aer Lingus ? Complaining seems to be a hobby with some people, get over it !
How is this news?
In other news, were building a bridge and we just need some water to go under it
Your reading it arent you lol
Shoddy reporting and a misrepresentation of the facts from our online sleuths at the Journal.ie – hence the quick volley of self righteous condemnation from the pythonesque peoples court.
People on board didn’t complain about having to disembark the plane. On the contrary, the lightening and thunder show around us made the decision easier. The frolics started thereafter when the villans of the piece, namely the Swissport “agents”, acting on behalf of Aer Lingus, got involved.
Frequent flyers and seasoned travellers know the Spiel when something like this happens – but the majority on board were holidaymakers (families, first time flyers etc), unfamilar with the nuts and bolts that such a situation brings with it. They were left in the hands of three highly incompetent south american Swissport agents (think Manuel from Faulty Towers meets Mr. Bean with a topping of a hyperactive Carmen Miranda) who could bearly get a sentence across their lips in English or German. A chaos ensued that could easily have been avoided!
A good 20% of the passengers (myself included) headed home with promises from Carmen et al that we’d recieve a call or text in the morning, informing us of our new flight time on Saturday – it never happened. No one at the Aer Lingus hotline (25 minute wait) could tell us either.
Made our way back to the Airport at 8:30 after a very short night to be met by the daytime crew of Swissport “agents” led this time by a robust Valkyrie, with enough spraytan to cover an Airbus A380 and the attitude of a Rattlesnake with a monster hangover (the omens were not good).
Again no flighttime was communicated. We were herded into a pen (beyond security controls) with the promise of breakfast and a definite flighttime.
Hours later, a very tired, hungry and remarkably patient group of passengers were “served” breakfast (a mini bottle of mineral water and a mini swissroll) by the said Valkyrian. No updates given, just aggresive refutes (I know nothing, so back off) from our teutonic tank. Kids, wheelchair bound passengers etc left tired and starving. Feeding ourselves wasn’t an option, seeing that we weren’t allowed back out into the main terminal from our pen.
All avoidable with some common sense and an action plan in place for such occurences. We finally boarded at 2:15. The Pilot, an absolute gentleman, apologised profusely and his crew were brilliant, feeding the hungry hoarde with free Pringles, sandwiches and chocolate (they quite rightly hid the alcohol).
Tarring the passengers, as some have done on here, as a whinging mass of ungreatful moaners is grossly unfair. A remarkably patient, tolerant and friendly bunch of people given that they were treated abominably by the Swissport incompetents.
As for Aer Lingus: kudos to you for providing a hotel when you didn’t have to (Lufthansa left hundreds of passengers to sleep overnight in Terminal 1with ruptions ensuing). I’d only question the wisdom of your decision in replacing your highly professional and experienced ground staff at FFM Airport with external, highly incompetent and wholly unprofessional, third party vendors
Best comment I have ever read on the Journal .. From another frequent Traveller !! Loved the A380 comparison .. I think I’ve met her before ..
Slow news day
Lufthansa flight to Dublin was also cancelled because of the storm delay. Stuff happens.
I was on that flight – completely agree that the thunderstorm was not the fault of aer lingus but the way we were treated is their fault. I paid 300+ quid to them and they sub contracted a bunch of clueless amateurs in Frankfurt airport. All we wanted was some information as to what was happening and when we were likely to leave but nothing back only lies and miss information given to make us go away. A lot of anger and tears could have been avoided by simply telling us what was likely to happen. Not a major issue considering some of the other news stories on here as we all got home safe but the frustrating part was it was all avoidable if someone from aer lingus would have communicated with and not avoided us.
Not easy when the airline dont know whats happening, plans change so much but the priority would be to get vack to Dublin if possible.
FRA airport failed by allowinf aircraft to taxi, they were fully aware of the closure so why rhey cleared push back is a big question.
Hi Paul – fully agree with that regarding last night and the confusion – we were told however we would fly back at 12 today, then delayed till 1, then told it was 3. Not a word from aer lingus just announcements from the ground staff on each delay with no additional information as to why. Just flight delayed by two hours and then they ran off. Nobody knew what was happening but clearly their had to have been some additional information we could have been told but weren’t.
Aer Lingus has no employees in Frankfurt so you are relying on Swissport. Agree, in these situations professionalism is required, but having been in a similar situation, passengers also have a tendency to “hassle the hell” out of the staff and exacerbate the situation. Judging by some of the passengers gripes over missing events back home because of the delay, wouldn’t surprise me if they were the most vociferous and dare I say it unreasonable??
21 hrs without any clue what has happening. 21 hrs for a 2 hr flight. Hardly an over reaction to ask to be told when you were likely to be going home.
Cormac.
I’m sure it was hard going and costly and stressful.
But:
- Aer Lingus have no staff on the ground.
- They took all instructions from the airport. What you experienced, so did every other delayed flight.
- I’ve been in that situation more the once, more often than not on an Irish bound flight from the US. Only one thing to do – don’t wait for the airline. Get your own hotel and taxi knowing it will all be expensed to €250 value, keep an eye online for flight details and find a high stool and a compassionate bar man.
Learnt the hard way – that will be the plan if and when it happens again
I can’t understand all the red thumbs to this comment. Its fair and reasonable.
Ah first world problems
Surely the curfew is a noise issue for the residents near the airport. The thunderstorns must be quieter during the curfew or they will be banned as well.
So This a is a newsworthy article? A flight was delayed. Big swinging M****y. Sheesh.. really scraping the barrel Journal. Sigh.
Aer Linger
Aer Langers
Aer heads ^
Aren’t planes built to sustain lighting strikes?? There has been lots of thunderstorm activity around that area but the rest seemed to manage.
Did you not read the story,
The airport temporarily closed due to a lightning storm, by the time the airport reopened it was near its curfew with flight back logs, the Shamrock was taxi-ing out but then got told the airport was closed cause it was the curfew time.
Ah yeah. I see but since it was taxi-ing out it should of been allowed take off. Regardless the headline makes it out different?
No its something the Germans are very strict on, any UK, French or Spanish airport and they would have continued open to free up the back log but zee Germans have dont bend the rules
Diverted to refuel on a recent trip from Portugal delayed in Shannon for 3 hours not allowed off the plane and not even a bottle of water given to passengers. We had already been informed that the catering trolley had been V busy on the flight out and was not restocked. I complained to Aer Lingus by è mail the following day 14th June and received a confirmation of receipt from them however despite two phone calls and follow up e mail I have never received a reply. Customer service is a thing of the past with Aer Lingus. I shall just have to speak with my feet and fly Ryanair. Aer Lingus has gone to the dogs. .
Aer hole ^
Lots of Lightning still in Germany
My brother and I were caught up In this ordeal but we were flying home with Lufthansa. Never in my life have we been treated so badly – all the Lufthansa desks were closed when we finally got off the plane in which we were waiting 2 hours, which meant we couldn’t get transfer and hotel vouchers forcing us to sleep in the airport and wait to catch an Aer Lingus flight home at 10pm last night. Never again Lufthansa.
OK negative folk. Delays occur when travelling we understand. Here is the actual story step by step so you can judge if it was a run of the mill normal delay.
Due to leave Frankfurt at 8:45 last night. Little thunderstorm delayed things while they suspended operations. Got on plane at 23:15, sat until 12:00 on plane doing nothing. Pushed back from stand on ramp waiting to take off. Told then that there’s a curfew of 12:00 and flight can’t leave. Sent to baggage hall to reclaim bags to be told u could be waiting a couple hours for your bags. Went to ticket desk where nobody knew anything. Told wait for a bus to a hotel but we don’t know when the bus will get here. After an hour or so we were sent back inside to collect our bags then back to the ticket desk for further chaos. Eventually we were told if u don’t want to wait for the bus u can pay for a taxi to the hotel we booked and claim later from aer lingus. So after a while waiting for a taxi I got in with two other nice folk I met there and we shared the taxi fare of 68 Euro after the taxi driver faffed about trying to get out through the barriers for five mins as all was closed. Arrived then at the hotel to a que for check in as one might expect with one night Porter to check us all in. Got to my room at 3:30 am and fell asleep. Got woken at 8:00am told bus to airport is at 9:00. Went down and got breakfast only to be told breakfast is not included and I had to pay 18 Euro for brekkie. Back to airport on half hour journey and waited at check in desk to be told sorry the 10:50 flight has to go first and our flight was scheduled for 12:00. Eventually after the 10:50 flight closed we got to check in our bags where the desk clerk wrote go to gate E4 and we were told the flight will now depart at 13:00. OK so went to gate E4 where I had to que and go through security. A few of us waited around there for a while until someone asked what’s happening only then to be told we switched gates. Now go to gate D54. So after hassle to get back through security we walk to completely the other side of the terminal where we go through security screening again. Inside the gate holding area there’s nothing more than a couple of vending machines. So we wait and wait and wait. The 13:00 flight looks less likely now as its 12:45 and nothing’s happening. Then they come out with water and juice and a small slice of Swiss roll each. We are then told there’s no crew. Bags are loaded buses waiting but the crew are still back a half hour away in the hotel. The ground handling girls use a passengers phone to ring the hotel to try get the crew to come down. She sends the buses for the plane away. 14:15 we are told hurray the crew are in the plane but now we must wait for buses to get you to the plane. 14:45 a bus pulls up. I’m first out and me along with 6 or 7 others get through onto the bus only to be told sorry this bus is for the Istanbul plane so u have to get off. Back off waiting again. Next bus arrives. Are u the aer lingus bus? No! The ground agent talked to him and changed his mind after he made a phonecall or two. 15:00 on the plane all good waiting to go. Pilot comes on to say we are ready to go all packed in all accounted for but waiting on ground handlers to bring up paperwork which should be about 15 mins. 15:30 we take off finally. The crew were great free food and drinks in plane and really looked after us. None of it their fault. All aer lingus offered on arrival was a meal voucher!! R u shitting me? A meal voucher.
Proud to say despite what some on here said, that nobody really had a go at any staff or shouted etc. We all knew they were just going their job but with no leadership or direction from the airline it was a catalog of errors.
So glad to be home now with my Mrs and two little princesses!!
Don’t go blurting out rubbish about the story until you have heard the facts.
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