ABSTRACT
As an integral part of any democratic system political parties have been at the helm of European integration from the beginning, and also are leading the opposition to it. The increase of Eurosceptic parties across the continent since the 1980s, as well as their wide ideological and operational diversity, indicate a seismic shift in the rise of this phenomenon. The discussion of this chapter looks at explanations for the recent increase of Eurosceptic parties and how their positions have changed over a period of time, and examines the relevance of their behaviour inside national party systems. The transversal nature of European integration in domestic politics as a structural cause for the rise of Euroscepticism links together changes in the power distribution, such as greater transfer of sovereignties and competences from national to supranational level. The two can be explained as 'the supranational centralization of power' and 'the power of the purse'.
