ABSTRACT
Social democratic parties could reject the whole idea of European integration as reducing the national capacities towards an autonomous ‘socialist path’. This idea, for example, prevailed within the ‘old’ Labour party (UK) in the 1970s and early 1980s when it called for a withdrawal of British membership. By the mid-1980s, a consensus appeared among the socialist parties to accept membership (Featherstone 1988: 3). However, it is worth recalling that countries like Sweden, Finland and Austria, where Social Democratic parties have been particularly strong preferred to remain outside the European Union. These countries joined the EU only in 1995. By now, it seems clear that ‘exit’ has disappeared as a feasible policy option for Social Democracy.
