National political parties and EU policy developments : the case of Greece prior to the crisis

Abstract

Greece’s membership in the European Union (EU) and EU policies became key issues in the elections that took place during economic crisis, namely the May and June 2012 legislative and the May 2014 European elections. As the crisis was, and continues to be, an extraordinary period for both Greece and the EU as a whole, the key question concerns whether, due to their ongoing impact on national legislation, EU policy developments have affected national party positions during normal times of integration. However, we know little about Greek party preferences for EU involvement in policy-making and whether EU policy developments affected party competition before the crisis. The present article thus studies party positioning in the policy space during the decades prior to the crisis (1993–2006) using an original survey inquiring Greek party politicians about the crucial policy areas of agriculture and migration, as well as foreign and security affairs. The study reveals differences across Greek parties as well as within parties over time and discusses these findings in the context of the broader debate of party (organizational and policy) change in response to European integration. Besides contributing to this scholarly debate—a literature where, thus far, the Greek case is largely absent—this study enhances our understanding of Europeanization effects on Greek party politics.