After the Crisis: EU Issue Voting in Greece

Abstract

AbstractCompared to the other countries examined in this volume, Greece is the one that suffered the most financially during the economic crisis. Public protest and growing political discontent emerged as a reaction to the strict austerity policies introduces, with European institutions becoming the symbol and the European Union (EU) becoming the main target of discontent. To this end, the Greek case offers a useful example of a country in which EU issues around the economic crisis polarized the general public. This analysis suggests the salience of the EU issue was greater during the crisis, with negative references towards the EU being widespread even among moderate media outlets. However, public opinion analysis suggests the EU issue can only explain the vote for the two parties competing to govern—Syriza and New Democracy (ND). While Syriza successfully closed the circle of the memoranda agreed upon by the Papandreou government in 2009, ND mobilized the emotions of citizens and the public by creating a “rally around the flag” that determined the outcome of the elections.