Which countries could follow the UK and leave the European Union – Executive Digest

June 23, 2016: After the referendum, Great Britain agreed to leave the European Union, there were quick voices warning of a possible domino effect in other countries. However, Brexit has not turned into the feared ‘Pandora’s Box’, and no member state has since expressed willingness to follow suit.

However, Euroscepticism remains very much alive across the old continent, with Jimmy Akesson, the leader of Sweden’s second-largest political party, writing this week that there are “good reasons to seriously reconsider our participation in the European project”. Even among some of the EU’s most powerful and long-standing members, there is skepticism about the group’s involvement in internal affairs.

According to the British tabloid ‘Daily Mail’, there are also countries that will, one day, leave the EU – or at least try to reduce Brussels’ influence at home. And what countries are they?

Greece

Since joining the EU in 1981, the Greeks have had a massive relationship with the EU. The country’s debt crisis, which began in 2009, has been a major source of tension between Greece and its EU partners. The EU’s insistence on austerity measures as a condition of financial aid is deeply unpopular in Greece, where many feel the country has been humiliated by its EU partners.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has made major efforts to mend his country’s relationship with the European Union, pledging his support to Brussels as Greece successfully boosts its economy and defaults on debt.

But his ‘New Democracy’ party is on the verge of losing its majority in elections later this month and Greek public attitudes towards the EU are among the worst on the continent – according to a February 2023 poll, Greece is the most anti-EU country on the continent, with 53% of citizens pessimistic about the EU’s future. 60% also said they did not trust the EU.

Italy

Italy has always been a Europhile country and one of the founding members of the European Union. But recent events have left Italians more disillusioned with the EU than ever. The country has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and the European response has been criticized as slow and ineffective.

The rise to power of Giorgia Meloni, known for her anti-European rhetoric, promised a shake-up in Italy’s relations with its European partners, although it was chosen by Italy’s most right-wing head of government since World War II. Caution on conflict with Europe. In his first trip to Brussels last November, Meloni announced his support for the EU and broadly endorsed the bloc’s approach to the war in Ukraine, inflation and energy prices.

According to Eurobarometer, only 50% of Italians trust the EU.

France

It was always a complicated relationship. It is one of the group’s founding members and its second-largest economy, with French leaders making a decisive contribution to shaping EU policy over the years. However, France has been one of the EU’s biggest critics, with many citizens feeling they have lost their sovereignty to Brussels.

French Euroscepticism peaked last decade when Marine Le Pen, head of the right-wing populist National Assembly party, made leaving the European Union a key element of her political platform. After the 2017 election defeat, Le Pen abandoned the entire ‘Frexit’ plans, but confirmed her intention to soften the EU’s bureaucratic control.

A Eurobarometer poll found that 57% of French people do not trust the EU, and 50% are pessimistic about the alliance’s future.

Sweden

Jimmy Akesson, Sweden’s second-largest party, sparked fresh Eurosceptic debate when he declared it was time to “re-evaluate” the country’s EU membership. For the politician, the growing power of the EU means that “German, Polish or French politicians, in effect, decide what car you can buy, how expensive petrol should be and which trees you can cut down on your property”.

Akesson, the anti-immigrant party that wields huge influence over Sweden’s centre-right government, stopped short of directly calling for a ‘Swexit’ but insisted the EU was heading in the wrong direction. ‘Swexit’ unlikely – Swedes are the most optimistic in Europe about EU membership, with 63% expressing their confidence in the bloc and 73% optimistic about its future.

Hungary

Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s authoritarian president, has recently become a pariah in Europe. Despite his country’s membership of the European Union and NATO, Orban has maintained a strong relationship with Vladimir Putin throughout the conflict in Ukraine and has advocated a softer Western stance toward Russia.

The EU has withheld billions of euros in EU funds, with the EU announcing that it will only provide funding if the Hungarian government implements a long line of reforms to meet European democratic and legislative standards. The Eurobarometer result is not surprising: 43% of Hungarians are pessimistic about the EU and 44% distrust the group.