'Brexit' and euroscepticism across the European Union

Abstract

On the 23rd of June 2016, the United Kingdom voted in favour of leaving the European Union. This referendum was carried out after years of lobbying by British Euro sceptics coming from various parties, mainly the far-right, Eurosceptic 'United Kingdom Independence Party', led by Nigel Farage. The result of this referendum led to an avalanche of speculation on the future of the European Union, leaving many speculating on the direction that this bloc had taken and many others criticizing the various inefficiencies of the Union. This led to a major rise in Euroscepticism across the entire European Union, with a number of member states starting to criticize the Union much more freely due to the instant instability that the 'Brexit' reality had brought with it. The aim of this dissertation is to determine whether the current relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union will affect other European Union member states, together with an explanation of the main pillars which are at the core of the Eurosceptic ideology. Apart from this, the chances of another 'Brexit' and Eurosceptic developments will be discussed in detail in the two case studies which were chosen for this dissertation, that of France and Hungary.