Is ‘Eurorealism’ the new ‘Euroscepticism’? Modern conservatism, the European Conservatives and Reformists and European integration

In 2009, United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron announced the creation of a new pan-European group, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). This group, often considered as ‘soft Eurosceptic’ in the existing literature, is mostly composed of right-wing, nationalist and conservative political parties working together to “reform the EU on the basis of Eurorealism, Openness, Accountability and Democracy”. This chapter analyses the evolution of right-wing Euroscepticism at the transnational and pan-European levels, and the development of ‘Eurorealism’ as an alternative to the notion of ‘Euroscepticism’. It attempts to offer a clear definition of this term and to understand why the ECR group was so successful in attracting new parties following the 2014 European elections. More particularly, this chapter aims at explaining why historically pro-European and ‘hard Eurosceptic’ parties switched their stance to adopt a more critical (or more favourable) position on European integration by joining the ECR.