Portugal’s foreign policy responses to the Eurozone crisis: an instance of de-Europeanization or mere policy adaptation?

This paper explores contemporary dynamics of tension and cohesion in Portuguese foreign policy. In order to do so we center our attention on the period of deep crisis the country went through in the context of the recent global financial meltdown and subsequent Eurozone crisis. The crisis strongly impacted the country’s domestic fabric and forced its leaders to search for urgent and innovative solutions, notably at the international level. Drawing on the literature on foreign policy (de)Europeanization, the paper examines the impact of the Eurozone crisis on Portuguese foreign policy. More precisely, it considers the extent and the ways the crisis affected preexisting patterns of Portuguese foreign policy Europeanization. This topic is significant because Portugal’s foreign policy went through a significant level of Europeanization in the past, although the depth of such process has varied for different geographical areas. Moreover, while economic or instrumental motivations have played an important part in its participation in the European Union, Portugal suffered greatly from the Eurozone crisis as a Troika country. Using a qualitative case study research design, the purpose of our paper is to provide an in-depth account of the implications of the Eurozone crisis for preexisting patterns of Portuguese foreign policy Europeanization, asking specifically whether those past patterns continued to unfold or, instead, whether they were undermined or reversed. Relatedly the paper explores the underlying factors or possible drivers that might help explaining the identified patterns of Portuguese foreign policy (de)Europeanization. Possible changes in preexisting patterns of Portuguese foreign policy Europeanization are examined by looking at national discourses, processes and practices. The main focus is put on Portugal’s overall foreign policy orientation, in order to better apprehend the prevalent or more general repercussions of the crisis, in contrast to possible impacts in specific policy domains only. The results of this study will contribute to the literature on foreign policy (de)Europeanization and Portuguese studies.