EUROSCEPTICISM AS A CHALLENGE TO THE EU ROLE OF A GLOBAL SECURITY ACTOR

Abstract

The European Union as a regional organization also fulfills the role of a global actor through its active involvement in promoting peace, security, preventing and resolving conflicts in various parts of the world, develop- ing stable democracies, promoting the protection of human rights, and supporting a rules-based global order. Such global activity forms a positive perception of the process of European integration and the EU in general. However, on the other hand, the Union faces complex challenges, including Brexit, terrorist threats, economic and financial problems and changing immi- gration flows, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian war, sanctions against Russia, China's foreign policy, etc. All of them, together and sepa- rately, constitute a fertile environment for the development of Euroscepticism which questions and even denies the effectiveness of the European integration process. Therefore, it can undermine trust in the EU, in particular, in its inter- national activities. Both the left-wing and the right-wing parties exploit such ideas of Eurosceptics as threats caused by migration, the inability of national governments to solve domestic problems, the elitist nature of the EU, and the dominance of the interests of large powers in the decision-making process at the pan-European level. However, the latest Eurobarometer surveys show that external challenges, on the contrary, have united Europeans more in their attitude towards the EU and its role as an actor of international security. In par- ticular, citizens see the following three main advantages of the EU: contribu- tion to maintaining peace and strengthening security, improving cooperation between member states and economic growth at the national level. Despite the full-scale war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine and all the aid the EU has already provided to Ukraine, in the winter of 2022–2023, 91 % of respon- dents agree with the provision of humanitarian aid, and 88 % favour accepting people fleeing war into the EU.