David Cameron's Speech Analysis

In 2013 current UK Prime Minister David Cameron delivered an important speech with the potential to change the relationship between the UK and the European Union (EU) fundamentally. This speech was an attempt to solve several problems the government faces, which include growing call from Conservative MPs and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) concerning the power conflict between the UK and EU governments.

This situation led to David Cameron promising a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU if he won the 2015 general election. His Conservative Party secured a parliamentary majority and the country started being on course for a ‘remain-or-leave’ vote by the end of June 2016, after a renegotiation of the terms of Britain’s membership with

In such a context, this paper addresses the issue of Euroscepticism expansion in Britain but also across Europe. How has Euroscepticism spread around Europe and more specifically in Britain? What concerns are likely to drive Euroscepticism and how will they influence the vote at the referendum? Is it mainly driven by apprehension over the growing interference of the EU in the UK and more widely by discontent with how democracy seems to be working in the EU or by concerns over the perceived economic costs to Britain of EU membership or even by worries over alleged threats to national identity and the native group from the free movement of EU migrant workers and of immigration more

It is a term used to describe a criticism or a sceptic opposition towards the European Union, whether it concerns its politics, economic integration, policies or its system as a whole. It was intended to be more flexible than ‘euro-phobia’ or ‘anti-Europeanism’. The latest, which always had a strong influence in American culture, refers to the rejection of the culture of Europe and Europeanisation, as well as sentiments, opinions and discrimination against European ethnic groups.

However, the word only really gained popularity a few years later in 1988 when British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher gave her famous “Bruges Speech”, in which she expressed clearly her opposition to the European Union seemingly trying to override Great Britain's sovereignty:

Since then, Euroscepticism has continued to grow across Europe. On EurActiv, an independent specialised European Union affairs portal for EU policy professionals, Eurosceptics are defined as

The definition is continued by Szczerbiak and Taggart1 with qualitative differences of Euroscepticism which can be classified in two