Paper Titles & Abstracts

In the UK, the Eurosceptic offensive staged by Conservative backbenchers at the start of 2013 focused in particular in certain policy areas earmarked for 'return' or 'repatriation' of powers, notably social and employment policy. This, following the CBI's earlier policy approach to the incoming coalition administration which argued in favour of renegotiation of social and employment policy initiatives agreed under the previous Labour administration, highlighted a critical point of tension between the UK and EU which had been prominent in the 1980s. Before the UK parliamentary elections of 1997, social and employment was the only key area of disagreement between the two main parties on European policy.In response to Conservative Euroscepticism, British trade unions rallied to the traditional labour position of defence of European integration. However, since 2008 trade unions across EU member states and at EU level have become increasingly critical of the direction of European integration, following the 2007-8 'dark series' of ECJ judgements subordinating social rights to market freedoms, the weakening of unions' voice in economic policy since the onset of economic crisis, and the focus on labour market reform and austerity politics reinforced by economic and fiscal policy coordination.Social and employment policy therefore is located at a critical juncture between traditional left-right politics, on one hand, and the trade-off between resources (interests) and sovereignty (identity) inherent in the process of Europeanisation. As such, it helps to further understanding Euroscepticism as a persistent phenomenon which is an integral part of the process of integration itself, above and beyond the specific context of national party politics which is the starting point for this paper. The paper develops discussion of the British case with a view to refining the concept of Euroscepticism as located along a set of intersecting political cleavages.