The consistency of the link between EU scepticism and immigration issues : A descriptive analysis of party positions

The Brexit referendum marked a no-return point in the history of the European construction. First member state ever to leave the Union, the UK was the theatre of a fierce campaign opposing positions on immigration to economic interests. Now that the anti -immigration camp seems to have won the game, this paper proposes to step back a little bit and consider the consistency of the link between EU scepticism and position on immigration for political parties across Europe and over the last ten years. I show that if the UK may well be a oneof- a-kind instance, the link between the two issues does exist across EU member states over time.