The End of the ‘Europe of Elites’? Patterns of Euroscepticism among Political Elites in Southern Europe

The economic crisis and the related EU austerity measures have imposed many constraints on the national governments and seriously limited the policy repertoires of governing parties. This has created a popularity problem for those parties more committed to implement austerity, while opposition parties have built on popular discontent to challenge the government together with the EU. Europe has become a territory for disputes among parties. Historically, national elites have decided to cooperate at the EU level to gain security in risky international environments and to cope with the most difficult international and global challenges. But under the crisis the costs of integration can appear more tangible and even outweighing benefits, especially in those countries that found themselves at the eye of the storm. Has this new context changed the attitudes of national political elites toward Europe? Has the settlement that secured a broad consensus of national elites over the EU been broken? The paper will address these questions through the analysis of political elites in Southern Europe, a geographic area that was more severely hit by the crisis and by EU-led austerity measures. This is done through the analysis of comparative data of a recent survey that was conducted among national MPs.