A Cloud on the Horizon? Right-wing Eurosceptic MEPs on the Future of Europe

Facing challenging times, debates on the future of Europe have been hold during plenary sessions of the European Parliament (EP) to envisage different reforms regarding the future of European integration. This open forum also gives the floor to Eurosceptic politicians inside EU institutions to express their reservations and views on the future of the European project. Acknowledging that Eurosceptic voices already play a significant role in defining the current function and actions of the EU, this paper focuses on the vision of Europe as framed by right-wing Eurosceptic forces in the European Parliament. Euroscepticism is often associated with criticism towards European project and claims a need to limit European integration, however, some of the Eurosceptic actors go beyond pure contestation and propose alternative visions of the EU in the future. The main aim of our research is, therefore, to analyse how members of the European Parliament (MEPs) belonging to right-wing Eurosceptic groups discursively frame the future of the European project during these specific debates. Through qualitative methods applied on the EP plenary sessions focusing on the future of Europe that were held during the 8th term of the European Parliament (2014-2019), our analysis focused on certain proposals of reforming the EU and on arguments driving anti-European stances.