On 2011-02-04, at 4:00 PM, Wojtek S wrote:
> To me, the defining characteristic of the left is
> internationalism, and EU made a tremendous progress toward
> internationalization of Europe...I have to admit, I am very much for the EU for a number of reasons, and the
> EU skeptics tend to be the types that I avoid like a plague.
The issue is not internationalism, Woj. We're all internationalists. The issue is the character of the EU, generally presented as the choice between a "neoliberal" Europe where decisions are made in the chancelleries of the member states versus a "social" Europe subject to democratic control. Though present from its inception, these divisions came to a head during the referendum campaigns surrounding the proposed Constitutional Treaty in 2005 and are currently raging, with greater force, in relation to the draconian austerity programs imposed to cushion the banks and bondholders responsible for the latest crisis.
Euroskepticism, rejection of European unity on ideological and nationalist grounds, seems more to be the defining characteristic of British Tories and other right-wing parties, rooted in many of the same prejudices which cause right wing US Republicans to vilify the UN.
For the left's position on European unity rather than your caricature of it, see the declarations of the Party of the European Left, a coalition of Communist and left social democratic parties (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Left), and the more radical European Anticapitalist Left (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Anticapitalist_Left).