Voters reject austerity and question EU

FOR decades, Ireland had a pro-EU cartel at the centre of party politics.

Essentially, all of the parties of the centre left and the centre right, that were regularly in government, held pro-EU positions, including Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the PDs. The picture is more mixed for the Green Party but they have taken a more pro-EU stance in the last eight to 10 years.

The positive orientation of the parties towards the EU was reflected in the electorate with a significant majority holding favourable views on the EU.

Decades of Eurobarometer surveys told us that a large majority of Irish people believed that membership of the EU was a good thing for Ireland. Many of the early EU referendums were also marked by clear support for the European project. Since 2008, however, there has been a major re-evaluation of the EU project by voters. The euro crisis brought soaring unemployment and EU citizens watched while billions of euro were pumped into bankrupt banks, at the same time as public services, salaries and living standards were eroded. In the bailout countries of Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus, austerity policies brought enormous hardship to vulnerable citizens. National governments, not just those in bailout countries, often seemed paralysed by the scale of the crisis and much of the management emerged from midnight meetings of EU leaders. Attempts to manage the crisis were always last minute and there were mixed messages from EU and national leaders about what had been agreed and what needed to be done.

Austerity is seen as an EU policy, even a German policy, for the rest of Europe to implement. As the crisis is petering out, EU citizens believe the next generation will be worse off than this one.

One of the consequences of the crisis is a re-evaluation of the EU by many of its citizens. The centrist political parties have retained their overall positive disposition to the EU, at least that is true of their public statements and messages to voters. However, Irish voters’ views of the EU have become more critical.

There is still majority support for the euro and staying in the euro zone.However, a growing share of voters indicates they believe the EU is going in the wrong direction.

Among Irish voters, trust in the institutions of the EU has fallen significantly, most especially trust in the European Central Bank.

There is an emerging mis-match between the EU positions advocated by the centrist political parties and the views held by voters about the EU. This situation is not unique to Ireland. In many countries impacted by the economic crisis, voters have become far more critical of the EU and there is growing support for parties and movements that can be described as critical or sceptical of the EU. Sceptic parties have emerged in some countries while in others, existing parties with a more critical EU stance have seen their electoral performance improve significantly. EU critical parties come from both ends of the political spectrum with the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the National Front in France of the far right and Golden Dawn from Greece arguing from a far left position. These parties have competed at previous polls

on anti-immigration and anti–EU platforms, but the austerity policies of the EU have created a more fertile support base with so many voters disappointed at the outcome and direction of the EU.

In Ireland, the preponderance of the anti-EU sentiment has gone to the left of the political spectrum. Sinn Féin, along with the Socialist Party and People Before Profit, have all adopted EU critical positions which have been honed and developed through a series of referendums in the last decade. Opposition to austerity policies and a more questioning orientation towards the EU means many voters find their positions no longer reflected in the centrist parties.

Independents (or non party) candidates with an EU critical focus are also competing in the local and European Parliament elections. Diarmuid O’Flynn seemed best positioned to poll well in Ireland South, though still unlikely to take a seat. Sinn Féin looks like it may capitalise most on the growing critique of the EU and they are set to take between two and three seats in the European Parliament.

Across Europe, polls project that up to 30% of returning MEPs may hold critical views of the EU, to varying degrees. This presents enormous challenges for parties on all sides. EU supporters must now advocate more effectively for the EU while EU critics will be faced with the challenge of changing the system from the inside.

* Dr Theresa Reidy is a lecturer in the Department of Government at University College Cork

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