Ascending Euroscepticism: Facebook Deliberations during the Greek and Migration Crises

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Euroscepticism has been gaining prominence, spreading across member states and moving from the fringes of the political spectrum to the mainstream. Although Euroscepticism was originally conceived as a British phenomenon, it has permeated continental Europe, changing in content and cause over time as a consequence of the transformation of the European Union (EU) and its growing competences. Moreover, the ongoing economic and migration crises have accentuated popular discontent and mistrust in the EU, contributing significantly to a conspicuous shift from a ‘permissive consensus’ to a ‘constraining dissensus’, since decisions made at EU level have proved to have tangible and often negative consequences for its citizens.

Although Euroscepticism has been usually investigated through the analyses of eurosceptic parties or Eurobarometer surveys, in the proposed paper I take a different approach by conducting a content analysis of Facebook discussions on several pages of different EU institutions. This piece of a nascent European public sphere can give us an insight into public opinion regarding the management of the Greek and migration crises, new cleavages, causes of discontent, and various views on the future of the EU. Additionally, in order to shed light on the EU’s communication strategies aimed at taming growing disaffection from the EU via social media, the paper contains an analysis of EU institutions’ posts, their engagement in debates and interactions with their followers.