These days, it is generally understood that political integration has lagged behind economic integration in Europe, thus diminishing the possible benefits of the latter. This situation has in turn reduced public enthusiasm and support for the European project and weakened the possibility of deepening political integration. The rise of different, but similar in its anti-European stance, populism is seen as a symptom of such problems.
While Portugal has not seen such a surge in populism, public support for European integration, usually among the strongest in the EU, has fallen. Pro-Europe parties still enjoy a constitutional majority, but its base has never been narrower. Europe has been largely absent from the public debate, except in fiscal matters. The temptation for political actors to nationalize good news and blame “Brussels” for bad news has become more and more enticing.
This vector of the project sought to contribute to the debate, at both national and international level, on euroscepticism, its causes and consequences, by holding an international seminar, Europe at a Crossroads: European challenges for national politics at the Institute of Social Sciences in October 2018. The interventions of five of the speakers will be published as policy briefs.