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The rise of Euroscepticism across Europe has masked general apathy about the European elections among voters

McDonnell, D. (2014) “The rise of Euroscepticism across Europe has masked general apathy about the European elections among voters“, LSE EUROPP, 29 April.

 

Marine Le Pen’s Front National and Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom have announced that they intend to form a ‘Eurosceptic alliance’ in the European Parliament after the 2014 European elections. Duncan McDonnell writes that while the overall picture in the European elections will see Eurosceptic parties make gains in their overall vote share, they will have a fairly limited impact in the Parliament itself. He argues that the real threat to European integration is not a large Eurosceptic vote, but the potential for a low turnout brought about through general apathy toward the EU among ordinary voters.

With one month to go until the 2014 European Parliament (EP) elections, the candidates have been chosen, the posters printed and the media interpretation of the results (probably) decided. “A wake-up call for Europe”, “Euroscepticism triumphs”, “Europe’s populist revolt” and the inevitable “Return of the far-right in Europe” are the types of headline I expect to see on opinion pieces in the last days of May.

 

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