Elections, the pandemic and the EU: A media analysis on populist discourses in Portugal

This paper looks at how the discourses on Europeanization in Portugal have evolved between September 2021 and March 2022, a timespan marked by a peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, one budget crisis leading to the dissolution of the Parliament, and two electoral campaigns - local and national Parliamentary elections. It unpacks the identity and pragmatic factors that have underpinned a supporting narrative towards the EU project or one of a more critical or skeptical tone, exploring how these narratives were co-opted for populist discourses among political actors. For that purpose, we analyze three national printed newspapers, two online newspapers, and three evening news programs on TV, through qualitative and quantitative content analysis and critical discourse analysis.