Iberian Euroscepticism and Party System Change

This paper seeks to examine the extent to which Euroscepticism is a driving or a secondary force of political change in contemporary party systems in Southern Europe. More specifically, we address the question of the political appropriation of Euroscepticism by radical left-wing and/or populist left parties. In Greece, from the beginning of the recession, the number of voters who support Eurosceptic parties, that is, parties that consider as a threat to the national sovereignty the lack of independence and autonomy from the supranational organisms, has considerably grown, triggering a new political division that have transformed the Greek party system (Pappas, 2014). Here we explore in comparative perspective the role of Euroscepticism in the Spanish and Portuguese party systems, two countries hit by the European economic crisis. Has this political division emerged in Spain and Portugal? We conduct statistical analysis to assess the role of considerations regarding the EU at individual and party level, and their consequences upon the party systems. More specifically, we address the extent to which Euroscepticism has become increasingly relevant for radical left-wing/populist. For this purpose, we will use the 2014 Chapel Hill Experts Survey about political parties positioning and the 2014 Voter Study post-electoral survey.