The consistency of the link between EU scepticism and immigration issues
The consistency of the link between EU scepticism and immigration issues.
A descriptive analysis of party positions
by Pierre Georges Van Wolleghem
The present paper is published in the framework of Fondazione ISMU’s strategic line of research Immigration and the future of Europe
The Brexit referendum marked a no-return point in the history of the European construction. First member state ever to leave the Union, the UK was the theatre of a fierce campaign opposing positions on immigration to economic interests.
Now that the anti-immigration camp seems to have won the game, this paper proposes to step back a little bit and consider the consistency of the link between EU scepticism and position on immigration for political parties across Europe and over the last ten years.
I show that if the UK may well be a one-of-a-kind instance, the link between the two issues does exist across EU member states over time.