Abstract: Ever since the foundation of the European Community the Netherlands have been considered to be pursuing the vision of a closer co-operation and later an ever closer Union. Being one of the founding fathers of the European establishment the country was for long synonymous with being one of the pioneers in driving the European integration project forward. The rejection of the Constitutional Treaty back in 2005, however, put a stop to this unilateral political opinion. A staggering 61.6 % of the Dutch voters on a 62.8 % electoral turnout turned the Treaty down hereby indicating a far more critical stance than had previously been measured among the Dutch. In the light of this altered characteristic this thesis seeks to address the general phenomenon of EU-scepticism by giving a thorough examination of the concept. This is mainly carried out bringing on central scholars in the field. The model of Kopecky and Mudde has then been selected as a tool to construe what kind of EU-scepticism can be found among the Dutch as well as within the Dutch political system. The pivotal point of analysis is the actual rejection of the Constitution to which the investigation conducted by Eurobarometer delivers the main data. What the phenomenon of EU-scepticism entails and how it comes to expression in general is the point of departure of this thesis. The concept applied on the Netherlands in particular constitutes the following part. Finally, the thesis takes into consideration the most recent development within Dutch party political orientation by applying the model on party programs in the endeavour of mapping Dutch EU-scepticism.