GORENC Thomas & MOURET Romain (Group 6)
Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom of Great Britain
Considered on the one hand as the bastion of "euroscepticism", viewed on the other hand as the symbol of national sovereignty, the United Kingdom of Great Britain has always had complex and controversial relations with Europe. More than thirty years after joining the European Union, what judgement can one hold on British behaviour towards the European Union? The British refusal to join the European Monetary Union (EMU) and thus to abandon the Pound (£) help to perceive euroscepticism. In her recent book "La Grande-Bretagne euro-sceptique", Agnès Alexandre-Collier tackles the question of the British euroscepticism taking into account the complexity of the relations between Europe and Great Britain since 1945.
Even if it might sound surprising, the British do not consider themselves to be eurosceptic. For them, the term "eurosceptic" specifically corresponds to the Members of Parliament from the Conservative Party who, at the beginning of the 90s, blamed the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. Thus, according to many Britons, eurosceptism is better represented by the latter political minority and its supporters than by the way Great Britain behaves as a European partner.
In fact, British shyness and reluctance go beyond the political arguments of the different parties. They are more due to the fear shared by the population that European federalism would lead to a supranational power that would affect British sovereignty of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The euroscepticism in the United Kingdom of Great Britain is thus both political and symbolic. In the following pages, we will try to understand this by analysing different sources available on the World Wide Web.
