The Unlikely Eurosceptics: The Undercurrent Anti-European Attitudes among the Young Poles and the Role of the Domestic Context

Euroscepticism, Youth, Poland, Domestic Context, PoliticisationThe first generation of Poles whose political horizons have been limited by their country's membership in EU by a popular assumption should also be most pro-European section of society (European Commission 2014). After all, this is generation that has had a chance to fully enjoy benefits of EU and does not know any other political reality. However, this is also age group that has disproportionately voted for Eurosceptic candidates not only in European Parliament elections but also in recent national parliamentary and presidential elections. This conundrum has prompted us to take a closer look at young adult generation's attitudes towards EU, with particular attention to motivations behind their Eurosceptic stance. The underlying assumption is that even if Euroscepticism was not main driving force behind their voting patterns, voting for openly Eurosceptical parties implies a certain degree of acceptance of their anti-European stance. The article presents empirical evidence that young people's perceptions of EU are characterised by undercurrent euroscepticism, despite broad support for Poland's membership that we see on surface. This undercurrent Euroscepticism is less about a pragmatic assessment of benefits and losses, but more about concerns about emotive- symbolic issues, such as authority, self-determination, sovereignty, national identity and values. While benefits of EU membership are often taken for granted, con cerns about sovereignty understood in an old-fashioned way are brought to fore in young people's perceptions of EU.The article claims that attitudes and perceptions of young people have been considerably shaped by domestic political context: politicisation of EU resulting from riftbetween main pro-European party, incumbent during coming of age period of this generation, and anti-establishment parties supported by other political entrepreneurs, notably Catholic Church, who have been propagating anti-European messages. This criticism of EU, unleashed after EU accession, has been falling on fertile ground due to shallow consensus on European. Furthermore, real and perceived generation gap is also believed to have contributed to distancing of young people from pro-European governing elites, translating into greater receptiveness towards Eurosceptic arguments. The paper calls for comprehensive education about European and critical thinking and media consumption literacy in order to diminish susceptibility of young people to anti-European cues by political entrepreneurs.The paper mainly relies on empirical qualitative research results, complemented by opinion polls data. It is organised in following way: brief presentation of theoretical framework and context of research is followed by explication of methodology. Then I present empirical research results and discuss possible explanations for youth's Eurosceptic attitudes, notably role of domestic political context at time of their coming of age and role of knowledge and information. At end paper offers conclusions and some recommendations.Theoretical FrameworkEuroscepticism has been at centre of scholarly attention ever since end of permissive consensus-when general public paid little attention to deals cut by insulated elites (Hooghe and Marks 2009: 5)-associated with Maastricht Treaty. The initial take on Euroscepticism was limited to political parties' stances towards EU integration. One of most-quoted definitions of euroscepticism belongs to Taggart, who suggested that it is the idea of contingent or qualified opposition, as well as incorporating outright and unqualified opposition to process of European integration (1998: 366). …