Becoming Mainstream? Euroscepticism Among Established Parties in V4 Countries

The recent conflicts of the Hungarian and the Polish governments with the European Union as well as the cooperation between the Visegrád countries during the migrant crisis have drawn attention to this region.Eurosceptic parties in these countries have ensured significant reinforcement to the critics of the European Union since the Big Bang enlargement in 2004.Most of them (League of Polish Families and Self-Defence in Poland, Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, Slovak National Party and Movement for a Better Hungary) have had a populist profile and have profited from the general protest mood.However, in recent years more mainstream or established parties have started to criticize the European Union.Parties considered Eurosceptic are in governmental position in two out of the four countries (Hungary and Poland) while they play significant role in Slovakia (Freedom and Solidarity) and in the Czech Republic (Civic Democratic Party).The paper aims to explain the reasons lying behind the Euroscepticism of these mainly centre-right parties in the region, i.e. it examines if Euroscepticism is a consequence of the ideology or only a part of a broader party strategy