“The Bruges speech” is a political speech delivered by British Prime Minister M. Thatcher,
at the College of Europe, In Bruges, Belgium on September 20, 1988. Her speech against
European integration has remained historic, as it is to this day the “manifesto of British
Euroscepticism”. It is considered Thatcher’s most momentous political speech that
influenced later British politicians on the subject of the United Kingdom’s exit from the
European Union, the foundation of modern Euroscepticism.
Euroscepticism is a neologism that expresses an ideology of doubt or opposition to the
European Union and the Eurozone. Some Eurosceptics disagree with the attempt to extend
it further, others disagree with its current form, and some are even in favour of scrapping it.
Euroscepticism is not a single political / cultural concept. It is distinguished in Euroscepticism
that fits into a nationalist narrative, Euroscepticism that fits into a radical anti-capitalist
narrative, and Euroscepticism that is a reaction of a large section of European citizens to the
lack of democracy in the European Union. The radical anticapitalistic narrative is structurally
characterized by the denial/rejection of the European Union and globalization in general,
considering that globalization is unfair and exploitative for all the poor social groups of each
nation. This concept promotes both the rejection of globalization and the rejection of
modern nationalism as aspects of the same capitalist process, in favour of a fellowship of
peoples with respect to the culture of each nation or ethnic group.
Since the beginning of the new millennium, the EU has had to deal with a plethora of crises
(global economic recession, refugee crisis, Covid-19, Russian-Ukrainian War, energy crisis)
and its failure to do so further reinforced Eurosceptic ideology. This is a fact that most of us
have seen electorally. For the first time since the end of World War II, the numbers of those
parties increased so rapidly that they expressed a rhetoric of opposition, defiance or even
hatred towards the EU. Greece, Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Sweden, Poland and Hungary
are some of the countries where anti-European parties entered Parliament or even took
power.
In these circumstances, the 2016 referendum, in which British citizens were asked to decide
whether or not to stay in the EU, was expected and in no way avoidable. This dilemma has
existed in Britain’s public debate for the past 30 years and was implemented by another
conservative British politician, D. Cameron. In addition, UK society has traditionally had close
relations with the British Conservative Party and the presence of R. Sunak in the premiership
of the state proves this in full. The African-born politician is the fifth successive leader of the
Conservative Party to take over as prime minister, which demonstrates the deeply conservative identity of the British people. In terms of political culture, social identity and
electoral behaviour, the British themselves decided to leave the EU and therefore
implemented a political demand that began in the late 1980s. This could not be avoided.
Ιωάννης Κελέσης, Φοιτητής Βαλκανικών Σλαβικών Ανατολικών σπουδών
