Blame and Credit Strategies Towards the EU: Evidence from 10 Years of Parliamentary Speeches

How do domestic politicians attribute responsibility to the European Union (EU)? The EU might seem as the perfect scapegoat, with its multi-level governance structure creating incentives for politicians to blame it. The paper addresses this question through the lens of blame and credit strategies, using evidence from parliamentary speeches in four EU Member States (MS) which discuss economic crises. The focus is on the 2008-2018 period, which represents an opposite case for shifting blame towards the EU as several MS were in an adverse economic situation and the EU was implicated in crisis management. The findings support recent studies which show that blame is not always the preferred strategy. Certain party characteristics, such as being in government and having a pro-EU stance, make crediting the EU a favourable strategy for some Members of Parliament. The distribution of responsibility also varies across EU actors, with intergovernmental institutions receiving more credit.