Groter Europa, opstandiger Nederland: opheffing Euroscepsis in een conservatieve tijd.

Jos de Beus discusses a scenario of getting rid of Dutch Euroscepticism. In the Netherlands widening and deepening of the European Union seem to go hand in hand with a growing mood of resistance to further European integration at the backdrop of a conservative upsurge and rivalry between mainstream parties and populist movements. First, he discusses a rift between the ideal of representative democracy and the decision of the present Dutch government to block a (second) referendum on the new European treaty - the Reform Treaty of Lisbon. Secondly, he draws attention to a general dilemma of size: a trade-offbetween the expected effectiveness of new European policies and the given legitimacy of old national policies. Thirdly, he explains the novel phenomenon of Euroscepticism in one of the oldest small member states in terms of popular aversion of 1 immigration of foreign labour and competition of emerging economies; 2 excessive regulation by European authorities in the private domain (such as smoking) at the backdrop of their continued non-regulation of urgent problems (such as climate change); and 3 the loss of influence of the Netherlands in the future European union compared to yesterday's European Economic Community. Leaders and elites can only overcome Euroscepticism by addressing these origins of resistance, while also publicly and politically claiming the inevitability of further enlargement, activism and inner reform of Europe.