Comparing European Values in the Discourse of Greek MEPs and Members of the National Parliament between 2014-2019

The common European identity is constructed mainly through political identity, meaning the sum of political and social values that offer the society the feeling of an undivided being. The position of the European values in such a framework is crucial as they affect both the social, political and institutional level. Members of the European Parliament are electing as the representatives of the EU’s member-states in EU. Nevertheless, they often differentiate their positions from their parties’ official positions and the European values. Therefore, our focus will be directed on the Greek case, as the country experienced huge refugee flows during the examined period. Our sample consists of the MEPs positions during the 8th Parliamentary Period of the European Parliament (2014-2019) and the Greek parties’ position in the National Parliament during the same period. Our research question is: How have the Greek MEPs positioned in the EP during the examined period and in comparison with their national parties official positions? To answer our research question, we will use the constructivist grounded theory, focusing on the parliamentary representatives’ discourse nationally and at the European level. To code our data, we will use the MAXQDA software.