THE INFLUENCE OF BRITISH EUROSKEPTICISM ON EUROPEAN INTEGRATION PROCESSES AFTER BREXIT

Abstract

The article analyzes the influence of British Euroscepticism on the European integration processes after Brexit. We compared the intensity of European inte- gration in the areas of common economic, foreign and security policy during the period of Great Britain's membership in the EU and after Brexit. We determined that the main reasons for the spread of Euroscepticism among the British were the fear of losing national sovereignty and freedom of choice in the implementa- tion of their economic, foreign and security policies. Defining the consequences of the UK's exit from the EU, the authors noted that the level of Euroscepticism's influence on EU decision-making has decreased as British representatives have left all EU institutions. Britain's exit and its consequences have shown the com- plexity of disintegration processes and thus reduced the desire of Eurosceptics to advocate for exit from the EU. Now Eurosceptics want to stay in the EU and change it from within. Considering Britain's incomplete involvement in the EU's economic and mone- tary union, its withdrawal from the EU has not had much of an impact on integra- tion processes in this area. However, it is too early to draw concrete conclusions about the likelihood of deepening economic integration in the EU, as both the EU and Britain are still recovering from the economic consequences of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. Having identified the differences in the implementation of the EU's common foreign and security policy before and after Brexit, we can make conclution that the EU has not yet changed the format of the common for- eign policy and the way of presenting itself as a political player. At the same time, some changes have affected the EU's defense policy. Already during Brexit, the EU was working to establish PESCO and the European Defense Fund. However, as it turned out, other EU member states are also unprepared for deepening of integration in this area. The lack of a common vision of strategic goals and ob- jectives slows down the implementation of any initiatives. At the same time, the authors predict Britain's desire to regain regional leadership in European security policy, evidence of which is its activity in early 2022 to prevent a new round of Russian aggression against Ukraine.