History of euroscepticism in the United Kingdom

Source : http://www.therfcc.org/euroscepticism-47040.html

        The website www.therfcc.org is like "Wikipedia" an online encyclopedia developed by its own users. The Real Facts Contribution Company (therfcc) proposes visitors a list of articles covering a lot of fields from natural sciences to social sciences.

        Since this article we chose on euroscepticism was written by an Internet surfer, one may do well to be cautious about its contents but it seems to us that it is a relatively serious contribution.

Summary : 

        The debate around euroscepticism has been a major political issue in the United Kingdom since the birth of the European Union, and did not actually decrease following UK membership of the Union. Eurosceptics regard the EU as undemocratic, bureaucratic, and a threat to sovereignty. British eurosceptics are often against political and administrative centralisation while remaining in favour of other pan-European measures. Some British eurosceptics, including Members of Parliament, essentially claim the superiority of British institutions, traditions and methods. Although the British government was in principle favourable to the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), it did not become a founding member. The UK started moving closer to the EEC and opened accession negotiations in 1961 but France vetoed the UK's entrance. For a long time, the Labour Party spoke against the EEC but finally Britain joined the community in 1973. However, scepticism about membership prompted the Labour government to hold a referendum to ask if Britain should remain in the Community. British membership of the EEC was endorsed by 66% of the electorate. 

        Each UK party is split into eurosceptic and pro-European branches but today under Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Labour Party is strongly pro-European. The UK's third-largest parliamentary party, the Liberal Democrats, is also strongly pro-European. Many newspapers like the Daily Mail or the newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch are eurosceptic.

Summary in French : 

        Le débat autour de l'euroscepticisme en Grande-Bretagne n'a pas faibli après l'entrée du pays dans la Communauté Économique Européenne. Après plusieurs vetos de la France, la Grande-Bretagne se joignit finalement à la Communauté en 1973. Cependant, un referendum fut tenu en 1975 pour demander aux citoyens s'ils désiraient que leur pays se maintienne au sein de la Communauté. Chaque parti britannique se divise en deux branches pro-européenne et eurosceptique mais le Labour, avec à sa tête le Premier Ministre Tony Blair, est aujourd'hui  fortement pro-européen. Plusieurs journaux comme le Daily Mail et ceux de Rupert Murdoch sont les fers de lance de l'euroscepticisme.    

Lexicon : 

to prompt to : pousser à faire

to endorse : approuver

inception : début

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Sources :  http://www.ukip.org/index.php?menu=theparty&page=thepartytop

                  http://www.ukip.org/index.php?menu=ukipaims&page=ukipaimstop

        www.ukip.org is the official website of the United Kingdom Independance Party. It pretends to be the only one to tell the truth  on the European Union and its motto is "Let's get our country back!" As this article comes from an official page, it is fully reliable though politically biased.

Summary : 

        Both texts refer to the UK Independence Party founded by Dr Sked in November 1991. It was formed on 3 September 1993 at the London School of Economics by several members of the Anti-Federalist League (AFL). It had the aim of running candidates opposed to the Maastricht Treaty in the 1992 general election. UKIP has grown to have constituency branches around the country and a national party newsletter, the UK Independence News. All party members must sign a membership form supporting the party's principles in order to protect the party from infiltration by extremists. All prospective candidates and constituency office bearers must sign declarations confirming that they have no criminal record and no previous association with extremist political groups of right and left. The UK Independence Party is committed to withdrawing Britain from the European Union. UKIP believes that the constitutional treaty is not only bad for Britain's economy and prosperity, but it is an alien system of government that will ultimately prove to be totally unacceptable to the British people.

Summary in French : 

        Le UKIP - Parti indépendantiste de Grande Bretagne - est un parti fondé en 1991 par plusieurs anciens membres de l'AFL - Ligue anti-fédérale - dont le but était de s'opposer au Traité de Maastricht de 1992. L'UKIP tient à se distancier de l'extrême droite puisqu'il impose à tous ses membres de signer un formulaire de soutien aux "principes" du parti. Son principal objectif aujourd'hui est de voir la Grande-Bretagne se retirer de l'Union européenne et ses élus au Parlement européen se font entendre régulièrement à ce sujet ainsi que par leurs critiques de la "véritable nature" de l'Union européenne.

Lexicon :

to run candidates : présenter des candidats

to withdraw : se retirer

a breakthrough : un pas décisif

to be enshrined in : être enraciné(e) dans, être sacralisé dans