Parties, Citizens and the Eurozone Crisis: How Europe Has Contributed to the Resilience of the Portuguese Party System

Abstract

Using the Portuguese case, this chapter looks at how the process of European integration has affected both inter-party competition and voter-party alignments—two key dimensions of political representation and the performance of the political system. The chapter focuses on the position of political parties on the process of European integration, on the one hand, and on the evolution of public opinion, on the other. Analysing public opinion data and election manifestos, the main goal is twofold. Firstly, the author aims to explore the role played by Europe in shaping patterns of party competition before and after the crisis. Secondly, he seeks to investigate how citizens’ views of the EU have evolved over time. It will be argued that Portugal shows a combination of continuity and change, as some left-wing parties have strategically adapted their stances, whereas there has been an increase in citizens’ negative attitudes towards the EU. Moreover, party strategic goals have led to a depoliticisation of European integration. This is an important aspect that allows the understanding of why new parties have failed to politicise the European issue and to what extent the stances taken by party leadership have contributed to the resilience of the Portuguese party system.