EUROSCEPTICISM AS A FUNCTIONAL PRETEXT FOR POPULISM IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN STATES: THE EUROZONE, MIGRATION AND UKRAINIAN CRISES

The article investigates the Eurosceptic political stance as a driver of populism in Central and Eastern European states after they joined the European Union. First, populism as a strategy of domestic political parties is conceptually linked with Euroscepticism as a foreign policy stance and, second, local populist and Eurosceptic parties' success at national elections since 2004 is mapped out in detail. The article's main contribution is the empirical investigation of factors that contributed to the national election results with respect to three examples of the populist framing of EU affairs; namely, the economic and financial crisis, the Ukrainian crisis, and the migration crisis. We add to understanding of the internal and external dimensions of populist interests and their functional pretext for Euroscepticism, including the responses of non-populist parties.