Europeización a la sombra de la crisis financiera: efectos perturbadores en el sistema de partidos español
| Autor | Juan Roch Gonzalez |
| Cargo | Political Science, Center for Transnational Relations, Foreign and Security Policy, DE |
| Páginas | 21-36 |
IDP No. 24 (February, 2017) I ISSN 1699-8154 Journal promoted by the Law and Political Science Department
Juan Roch González
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Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Submission date: November 2016
Accepted date: January 2017
Published in: February 2017
ARTICLE
Europeanization in the shadow of
the financial crisis: disruptive effects
on the Spanish party system
Juan Roch González
Political Science, Center for Transnational Relations, Foreign and Security Policy
PhD Candidate at Freie Universität Berlin
Abstract
It is a widely held view that Europeanization is a gradual process of adaptation of domestic policies,
institutions or political actors to European Union (EU) regulation or norms, frequently linked to
democratization processes. There are, however, potential applications of the concept of Europeanization
to situations of crisis when domestic agents have little room for manoeuvre; on these occasions, gradual
adaptation may turn into pressures to implement EU norms or regulations and this may have disruptive
effects on domestic political systems. This paper aims at illuminating these processes in Spain during
the years of the Great Recession and evaluating their putative impact on the Spanish party system. The
primary concern of this study is, therefore, to identify crucial steps in the processes of Europeanization of
Spanish politics during the years 2010-2012; in a second step it analyses the articulation of a response to
these processes by protest movements, and especially by the political party Podemos in its initial phase.
A case-study approach is used to gain deeper insight into the context of Spanish politics in times of crisis.
Official documents of domestic or EU institutions and various speeches of the political party Podemos
are collected and examined. The results of this study suggest connections between Europeanization
processes and changes in domestic party competition in Spain; additionally, it identifies Europeanization
in Spain as a disruptive process favouring the emergence of anti-establishment discourses.
Keywords
Europeanization processes, EU, Spain, domestic agents, Podemos, domestic party competition
Topic
Europeanization
21
Juan Roch Gonzalex
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
Europeización a la sombra de la crisis financiera: efectos
perturbadores en el sistema de partidos español
Resumen
Se entiende generalmente que la europeización es un proceso gradual de adaptación de las políticas,
instituciones o actores políticos nacionales a los reglamentos o normativas de la Unión Europea (UE),
frecuentemente vinculado a procesos de democratización. No obstante, existen aplicaciones potenciales
del concepto de europeización a situaciones de crisis en las que los agentes nacionales tienen poco margen
de maniobra. En estas ocasiones, la adaptación gradual puede dejar paso a presiones para la aplicación
de reglamentos y normativas de la UE y esto puede tener efectos perturbadores en los sistemas políticos
nacionales. Con este artículo pretendemos arrojar luz sobre estos procesos en España durante los años
de la Gran Recesión y evaluar el supuesto impacto en el sistema de partidos español. El principal objetivo
de este estudio es, por tanto, identificar las etapas fundamentales de los procesos de europeización
de la política española durante los años 2010-2012. En una segunda parte, se analiza la articulación de
la respuesta a estos procesos por parte de los movimientos de protesta y, especialmente, del partido
político Podemos en su fase inicial. Se ha empleado el modelo de estudio de casos para profundizar
en el contexto de la política española en tiempos de crisis. Se han recopilado y analizado documentos
oficiales de instituciones nacionales y de la UE, así como diversos discursos del partido político Podemos.
Los resultados del estudio sugieren conexiones entre los procesos de europeización y los cambios en
la competencia partidista nacional en España. Además, identifica la europeización en España como un
proceso perturbador que favorece la aparición de discursos anti-establishment.
Palabras clave
procesos de europeización, UE, España, Agentes nacionales, Podemos, Competencia partidista nacional
Tema
Europeización
Introduction
The General Election held in Spain in December 2015 led to
dramatic changes in the role of the mainstream parties, the
balance between right-wing and left-wing forces, and the
distribution of power and resources in the Spanish party
system. Far from being an exception, the stability of the
two-party system in Europe has been threatened during the
last three decades: new parties – environmental focused, far
right-wing or left-wing, niche parties – have emerged and
challenged the usual political discourses and the distribution
of electoral opportunities
1
. Since 2009, the Eurozone crisis
has been an additional factor with variegated and significant
impact on the stability of European political systems.
2
The
nations of southern Europe have been particularly affected
by the crisis due, to a certain extent, to the failed European
integration process and the specialization profile of each
national economy within the European common market.
3
The measures implemented by successive governments in
Southern Europe to cope with the crisis significantly altered
economic and social policies in these countries. Existing
research on the Spanish case recognises the critical role
played by such changes in economic and social policy to
explain the emergence of protest movements and political
conflict.
4
So far, however, there has been no detailed
1. See Genga (2013), Meguid (2005, p. 347) or Dahlström and Sundell (2012, p. 353-354).
2. About the effect of the financial crisis see the compilation of Kriesi and Pappas (2015).
3. Ghosh and Faber (2010); Eder (2014); Deutschmann (2014).
4. See Medina (2015) or Gomez Reino and Llamazares (2015).
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
investigation on how Europeanization took place during
the “hard years” of the crisis in Spain and how it affected
the Spanish political system, even when the influence of
the European Union and other EU institutions has been
mentioned by several scholars.
5
The purpose of this paper is to uncover the role of
Europeanization processes in the rapid reconfiguration
of the Spanish party system in Spain. This study argues
that Europeanization was intensified during the initial
years of the crisis and its relevant effects can be isolated
in order to provide a new explanatory dimension for the
changes in the Spanish party system. Accordingly, this study
undertakes a three-fold analysis: first, it delineates specific
Europeanization processes affecting Spanish politics during
the years 2010-12; second, it identifies facilitating factors
derived from Europeanization processes for the emergence
of new political agents in Spain. In a last step, it focuses on
how the anti-establishment discourse of Podemos integrates
European Union or Europeanization issues.
It is beyond the scope of this study to consider all the possible
factors involved in the disruption of the Spanish political
system; on the contrary, this study seeks to substantiate
a new explanatory dimension and thus significantly
enhance the holistic analytical framework for examining
and explaining such processes of change. Future research
will evaluate the specific causal paths intervening in the
reconfiguration of the Spanish political system, including
all the necessary structural variables, party system internal
drivers and agential factors.
1. Europeanization and domestic
politics
Europeanization is generally defined as the process of
downloading European Union regulations and institutional
structures to the domestic level;
6
this definition contrasts
with that of Radaelli
7
who emphasises the different forms
of reaction and interaction of diverse domestic actors
and national states with EU bodies and institutions,
thereby adding complexity to the top–down mechanism
of implementation. According to Radaelli, Europeanization
can be defined as processes of (a) construction (b) diffusion
and (c) institutionalization of formal and informal rules,
procedures, policy paradigms, styles, ‘ways of doing things’
and shared beliefs and norms which are first defined and
consolidated in the making of EU public policy and politics
and then incorporated in the logic of domestic discourse,
identities, political structures and public policies.
8
This
approach to European ization is an attempt to navigate
across two levels of analysis: the national political systems
- commonly associated with party politics and comparative
politics – and the supranational level – generally confined
to the area of International Relations studies.
9
Certainly,
this definition allows a more complex understanding
of Europeanization in regards to the different ways of
implementation and the array of dimensions that can
be affected by these processes at the domestic level.
Notwithstanding this, the main notion of incorporation of
EU norms, policies or paradigms in the logic of the domestic
political sphere continues to have a pivotal role in much of
the literature on Europeanization.
There are two basic approaches currently being adopted
in research into Europeanization. One focuses on domestic
politics as a whole, and other analyses specific micro-
processes of change at the level of discourse – mostly those
of the political elites–. Meunier examines how globalization
and Europeanization have altered French politics in terms of
power, preferences and institutions.10 This author describes
an incipient realignment of the political agents in France on
the basis of Globalization and Europeanization cleavages.
Other scholars utilize text-centred methodology to observe
more carefully the changes in discourse and policies at the
domestic level and attempt to trace these changes back to
Europeanization processes.
11
5. see Hughes (2011) or Medina (2015).
6. Howell (2002, p, 2).
7. Radaelli (2004, 2009, 2012).
8. Saurugger and Radaelli (2008, p. 213)
9. To obtain deeper insight into the debate about the boundaries between areas of study see Jabko and Meuiner (2003, p. 2-3), Saurugger
and Radaelli (2008, p. 214).
10. Meunier (2004).
11. Taniyici (2010); Senninger and Wagner (2015).
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
The political system in Spain has also received significant
attention from the angle of Europeanization studies. In the
1990s, scholars working in the area of comparative politics
increasingly became interested in the effects of European
Union institutions and regulations on Spanish politics. Borrás,
Font and Gómez examine not only the impact of the EU on
specific policy areas but also the degree of Europeanization
for each one.
12
Börzel conducts a comparative study between
Spain and Germany to shed light on the precise mechanisms
whereby Europeanization affects national politics. She
concludes that the differential effect of Europeanization
on domestic institutions is partly explained by the structure
of the formal rules in the particular countries and the degree
of misfit between these rules and those of the EU.
13
Recently,
a considerable literature has grown up around the theme of
the pro-European discourses of the mainstream parties as
an attempt to explain the permissive consensus in Spain.
14
Unlike these scholars, Bourne and Chatzopoulou
15
focus on
how social movements have been Europeanized and analyse
these processes in Greece and Spain during the times of
the Great Recession.
Overall, there seems to be enough evidence to indicate that
Spanish politics – its political parties, institutions, policies
and protest movements – has been significantly affected by
processes of Europeanization in the last two decades. What
is not yet clear is the impact of Europeanization in times of
crisis on Spanish political competition and the Spanish party
system. This indicates a need to systematically analyse the
effects that Europeanization may have on this dimension
of Spanish politics.
2. Indirect and direct impact
of Europeanization
Europeanization processes impact on notably different
ambits such as cultural values or economic policies. In order
to represent the full picture about how Europeanization
processes are connected to domestic politics – including
possible feedback loops from domestic politics to the EU level
– it is necessary to differentiate specific dimensions within
the concept and identify the adequate area of inquiry for this
case. Börzel and Risse
16
provide a model of Europeanization
impact on domestic politics that distinguishes between three
areas: policies, politics and polity.
Table 1. Areas of impact of Europeanization on domestic
politics (based on Börzel and Risse, 2000b)
Policies Politics Polity
- standards
- instruments
- problem-solving
approaches
- policy narratives and
discourses
Processes of:
- interest formation
- interest aggregation
relations
- interest representation
- public discourses
- political institutions
- intergovernmental
relations
- judicial structures
- public administration
- state traditions
- economic institutions
- state-society relations
- collective identities
In a similar vein, Peter Mair
17
differentiates between direct
and indirect impacts. He argues that there is no direct
connection between the sphere of domestic politics and the
EU level in terms of distribution of resources among actors
in the domestic sphere. There is rather an effect on the
environment of domestic politics; in the words of Saurugger
and Radaelli, instead of a causal chain going down from the
EU to the domestic level, we have multiple pathways through
which EU pressure is refracted, and in some cases rhetorically
amplified if not construed.
18
Similarly, Börzel and Risse
19
theorize how Europeanization may affect domestic politics,
without apparent legal obligations linking national parties
and EU institutions. Grounded in the work of these scholars,
the observable Europeanization of national governments
may produce consequent effects on the scope of national
policy and the environment of domestic politics. The
indirect effect manifests itself by changing domestic party
competition, the political space and, eventually, facilitating
12. Borrás, Font and Gómez (1998).
13. Börzel (1999, p. 577-79). The concept of misfit is further elaborated in the next section.
14. Pacheco Pardo (2012); Vazquez Garcia (2012).
15. Bourne and Chatzopoulou (2015).
16. Börzel and Risse (2000b).
17. Mair (2007, p. 159).
18. Saurugger and Radaelli (2008, p.215).
19. Börzel and Risse (2000a, 2000b).
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
the emergence of new actors competing at the domestic
level. This indirect effect is mediated by national contextual
factors - such as veto players or formal institutions - and
agential factors – the active construction of norms and
regulations by norm entrepreneurs, social organizations or
political parties.
20
The figure above shows the set of direct
and indirect effects of Europeanization on domestic politics
including a possible feedback loop.
Based on the previous diagram, a relationship mediated by
various mechanisms between several observable variables
can be assessed. This model depicts the independent
variables as EU-generated constraints that produce some
type of misfit with domestic politics.
21
These constraints
may be specific regulations or norms and procedures
incorporated from the EU level into the domestic level. The
mediating factors have to do with the particular conditions
20. Börzel and Risse (2000b, p. 8-9).
21. Börzel and Risse (2000a, p. 5-6).
Europeanization
processes
National politics
environment
Party
competition
New political agents
Specific discursive formations
on EU issues
Agential factors
Norm entrepreneurs, party
leadership (goal motivated,
ideology, power struggles)
Contextual domestic factors
Political system, Veto players and
Formal institutions
Domestic change (indirect)
Mediating factors
Domestic change (direct)
Feedback loop
Figure 1. Explanatory diagram of Europeanization and new political actors at the domestic level
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
of the national political systems that produce facilitating or
blocking effects on the EU-driven change. The observable
effects on the domestic sphere can be assessed at two levels:
firstly, by examining the direct effect on the policy space and
the instruments available to competing parties, and secondly
by looking at the indirect impact on the transformation of
the domestic party system, party competition and the actors
involved in such competition. Particularly relevant for this
study is the effect produced by the policy convergence of
mainstream parties since, following Ladrech, “the inverse
effect of policy convergence on party competition by major
centre-right and centre-left parties is to open up potential
competitive space on the extremes of the party system,
and it could be that referendums, as in the Netherlands
and France in 2005, are examples where, released from the
usual channels of party cues, voters express a reaction to
the attenuated spectrum of choice”.
22
This process of Europeanization and its impact on domestic
party competition may unfold on the basis of two logics: the
logic of consequentialism and the logic of appropriateness.23
Fol low in g B ör ze l a nd Ris se , they often occur simultaneously
or characterize different phases in a process of adaptational
change. The logic of consequentialism operates mainly
when the actor assumes a fixed position based on interests
and values and acts on the basis of a function of utility
maximization. It presumes well defined objectives, and in
the case of a political party system, well-established political
parties in terms of organization and operational dynamics.
The logic of appropriateness is more likely to occur when
the set of values, the common understandings and the very
identity of the actors are questioned; this tends to be a
period of self-definition of the actors and discussion about
overall goals and desirable objectives in domestic politics.
3. Methods
This study uses qualitative analysis within a case-study
approach in order to gain insights into the context and the
specific case of the Europeanization of Spanish politics. Press
releases and official statements of the European commission
or other EU bodies during the period 2010-12 are collected and
analysed; the purpose is to show through document analysis
the connections between the EU sphere and the domestic
level and the putative EU pressures on Spanish politics, and
particularly on the Spanish authorities. Secondary data are
used to demonstrate changes in public opinion and social
agents regarding Europeanization and EU issues. In order
to obtain evidence about the central traits of Podemos’s
political discourse on EU issues, parliamentary speeches
and speeches of the party’s leadership during the European
elections campaign in May 2014 are collected and explored.
The goal of this paper is not to make empirical
generalizations about European countries; on the contrary,
it aims at producing relevant data and conclusions to build
comprehensive theories
24
on the basis of specific cases.
This idea of theory generation of Landman coheres with
the concept of typological theory defended by George and
Bennett: “In contrast to a general explanatory theory of a
given phenomenon, typological theory provides a rich and
differentiated depiction of a phenomenon and can generate
discriminating and contingent explanations and policy
recommendatio ns”.
25
Accordingly, Europeanization processes
are viewed in this paper as one relevant factor among others
when explaining changes in the Spanish party system. In
further elaborations of a full explanatory model of these
processes of change, Europeanization could be, eventually,
a relevant condition within a causal combination26 for a case
of study. This understanding of causality, as a construct
describing a relationship between events and situations,
27
allows for specific events producing some type of EU impulse
affecting Spanish politics to be identified at the EU level.
4. Analysis and findings
4.1. Identifying processes of Europeanization
Between 2007 and 2008 Spain entered the financial crisis
which had commenced previously in the United States with
22. Ladrech (2009, p. 9).
23. Borzel and Risse (2000b, p. 2).
24. Landman (2003, p. 17-20).
25. George and Bennett (2005, p. 234).
26. See Rihoux and Ragin (2009, p. 8-10) for a further explanation of the configurative approach to causality.
27. In the words of Lyngaard (2012, p. 94).
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
the subprime crisis. Spain was particularly vulnerable to
the effects of the crisis due to its credit-based economy
and housing market bubble that led to huge accumulated
private debt in the country. When the housing bubble
burst, it caused a severe impact on credit and prices and
in consequent steps led to the closure of many companies
and the rise of unemployment rates.
28
This situation of
instability, including the dramatic increase in public debt,
was addressed by the Spanish government through the
implementation of a severe austerity package in May 2010
by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
The Socialist party (PSOE) - ruling until 20 November2011
- and the People’s Party (PP) – the winner with an absolute
majority in the 2011 Spanish general election - implemented
various austerity measures as the only means to cope with
the crisis. On 12 May 2010 Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
announced spending cuts of €15 bil lion over two years.
Mariano Rajoy of the conservative People’s Party, who
came into office in November 2011, persisted in these
austerity programmes over the following four years. In July
2012, Mariano Rajoy announced his particular austerity
measures including €660 million of cuts in government
spending beyond the reductions already outlined in the
2012 budget, among which there were wage cuts for civil
servants and reductions in unemployment pay.
These measures from 2010 to 2012 were accompanied by a
greater Europeanization of Spanish politics. The observable
evidence of this process of Europeanization, in the sense of
institutionalization of norms and regulations which are first
defined and consolidated in the making of EU public policy
and politics and incorporated then at the domestic level,
29
can be traced back by looking at the essential documents,
events and outcomes.
4.1.1. Economic and Financial Affairs meeting in Brussels in May
2010
On 9 and 10 May 2010 all the financial ministers of the EU
Member States met at Brussels to discuss and undertake
important measures to tackle financial instability in the EU
zone, addressing mainly the cases of Greece and Spain. The
excerpt shown below contains an explicit reference to the
fiscal consolidation measures in Spain and Portugal.
Second, the Council is strongly committed to ensure fiscal
sustainability and enhanced economic growth in all Member
States and therefore agrees that plans for fiscal consolidation
and structural reforms will be accelerated, where warranted.
We therefore welcome and strongly support the commitment of
Portugal and Spain to take significant additional consolidation
measures in 2010 and 2011 and present them to the 18 May
ECOFIN Counc il. The adequacy of such measures will be assessed
by the Commission in June in the context of the excessive
deficit procedure. The Council also welcomes the commitment
to announce by the 18 May ECOFIN Council structural reform
measures aimed at enhancing growth performance and thus
indirectly fiscal sustainability henceforth.
30
[Au tho r’s e mp has is]
On Sunday 10 May 2010 the Council and the Member States
agreed a European Financial Stabilisation mechanism with a
total volume of up to €500 billion. Two days later, on Tuesday
12 May, the United States President Barak Obama called
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to talk about the importance
of Spain taking resolute action as part of Europe’s effort to
strengthen its economy and build market confidence.
31
The
same day Zapatero announced his austerity package. The
general characterization of the journals of these events as
direct pressures
32
from powerful European countries and the
United States reinforced the perception of Spaniards that a
clear external intervention was taking place in their country.
28. The unemployment rate increased from 9% in January 2008 to 26% in December 2012. Data from Eurostat extracted from:
ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-datasets/-/UNE_RT_M>.
29. Saurugger and Radaelli (2008, p. 213).
30. Press release Extraordinary Council meeting Economic and Financial Affairs Brussels, 9/10 May 2010, extracted from
rapid/press-release_PRES-10-108_en.htm?locale=en>.
31. Press Release - Readout of the President’s Call with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. 11 May 2010. Extracted from:
32. See reports of the newspaper El Mundo : <http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/05/12/espana/1273645595.html>, La Razón <http://
www.larazon.es/historico/3691-zapatero-expone-presionado-por-la-ue-y-eeuu-su-plan-para-reducir-el-deficit-RLLA_RAZON_261170#.
Ttt1kERZ4fd9l2N>, and Expansion <http://www.expansion.com/2010/06/02/economia-politica/1275515700.html>.
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
4.1.2. The reform of the Spanish Constitution in September
2011
The distance between the mainstream political parties and
part of their electorate can be illustrated with the approval
of the constitutional reform - Article 135 - on 27 September
2011 as a result of an agreement between the Socialist
Party and the People’s Party. This constitutional reform
gave priority to deficit control over social policies or other
government expenditure. Until the approval of this reform
in 2011, the Constitution had only been reformed in 1992 to
adapt its wording to the EU Maastricht Treaty. The reform
of Article 135 consisted of abalanced budget amendment;
namely, aconstitutionalrule requiring that astatecannot
spend more than its income. It requires a balance between
the projected receipts and expenditures of the government.
In practical terms, it meant the priority of paying Spanish
debt over social spending.
This reform was supported by the two main parties in the
parliamentary chamber which had more than 90% of the
seats, and therefore they did not need to call a referendum or
negotiate with other political parties or social organizations.
The Socialist government of Rodriguez Zapatero made this
decision just before the European Commission meeting in
which prolonging the aid programme to Spain and other
countries would be decided. Three days after the reform
of the Spanish Constitution the European Commission
approved conditioned financial aid for several Spanish
banks, as explained below by the EU body:
The European Commission has granted temporary approval,
under EU state a id rul es, to the recapitalisations of NCG
Banco, Catalunya Banc and Unnim Banc by theFondo de
Reestructuración Ordenada Bancaria(“FROB”) […]. Final
approval of the recapitalisations is conditional upon the
submission of a restructuring plan that ensures that the
banks will be viable in the long-term, that shareholders
adequately share the burden of restructuring and that
distortions of competitions are limited […]. In December 2010,
the Commission prolonged until the end of 2011, albeit with
stricter conditions, the crisis-related state aid rules for banks
and for other companies with problems accessing finance.
33
4.1.3. The Memorandum of Understanding in July 2012
On 25 June 2012, the Spanish government made an official
request for financial assistance for its banking system to
the Eurogroup for a loan of up to €100 billion. During the
processes of negotiation between the Spanish authorities
and EU institutions, Mariano Rajoy announced on 11 July
2012 a new austerity package. A few days later the loan was
approved by the Eurogroup of up to €100 billion in total and
was transferred in the form of ESM notes by 12 December
2012 to the Fondo de Restructuración Ordenada Bancaria
(FROB), the bank recapitalisation fund of the Spanish
government. The bailout to Spanish banks was linked to a
series of conditionality measures signed by the parties on 20
July 2012. The Memorandum of Understanding between the
Spanish authorities and the European Council outlined the
main guidelines for the Spanish banks recapitalization but
also underscored the macro economic measures necessary
to guarantee the success of the financial aid.
Regarding structural reforms, the Spanish authorities are
committed to implement the country-specific recommendations
in the context of the European Semester. These reforms aim
at correcting macroeconomic imbalances, as identified in
the in-depth review under the Macroeconomic Imbalance
Procedure (MIP). In particular, these recommendations invite
Spain to: 1) introduce a taxation system consistent with the
fiscal consolidation efforts and more supportive to growth,
2) ensure less tax-induced bias towards indebtedness and
home-ownership, 3) implement the labour market reforms,
4) take additional measures to increase the effectiveness of
active labour market policies, 5) take additional measures
to open up professional services, reduce delays in obtaining
business licences, and eliminate barriers to doing business,
6) complete th e electric ity and gas interconnections with
neighbouring countries, and address the electricity tariff deficit
in a comprehensive way.
34
4.2. Assessing the domestic impact
In the previous section several changes in national policies
in Spain and even in constitutional law during the years
2010-2012 have been described. As demonstrated above,
33. European Commission - Press release. 30 September 2011: “State aid: Commission temporarily approves rescue aid for Spanish savings
banks NCG Banco, Catalunya Banc and Unnim Banc”. Extracted from: europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-11-1143_en.htm>.
34. Spain Memorandum of Understanding on financial sector policy conditionality, 20 July 2012. Article 31, page 15. Extracted from:
europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-12-486_en.htm>
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
in the area of economic policies and austerity measures
the Socialist party (PSOE) and the People’s Party (PP)
both followed the same path indicated, to a certain extent,
by EU institutions through several recommendations or
memorandums of understanding. These political dynamics
impacted on the political space and led to a convergence
of the winning coalition
35
– composed of the PSOE and PP-
to implement the measures under pressure from the EU
institutions. The reform of the Spanish Constitution is a
good illustration of the consensus of Spanish political elites
to implement EU-driven changes – PSOE and PP had more
than 90% of the seats in the Spanish parliament at the
time of the reform.
Before the impact of the financial crisis on Spain and the
acceleration of Europeanization processes in Spanish
politics between 2010 and 2012 there was practically no
direct opposition to Europeanization processes within the
Spanish party system. Some scholars characterize the
party system in Spain during these ti mes as a Europhile
system.
36
It is necessary to differentiate between the party
system and Spanish civil society: whereas the party system
showed an almost homogeneous and positive position on
Europeanization issues,
37
Spanish civil society showed rather
a mixture of high disaffection and an abstract positive
evaluation, as the turnout in the European constitution
referendum indicates.
38
Europe represented for Spaniards
an abstract idea associated with positive issues, but with a
little impact on political discussion in the national arena. The
permissive consensus of the party systems that in the words
of Robert Ladrech
39
characterized the first three decades of
the European integration process persisted in Spain without
being politicized until the Euro crisis.
The social impact of the economic crisis on Spain began
to erode this solid base of political consensus around EU
issues. While the Spanish political system and especially
what has been called above the winning coalition did
not show apparent disagreement or tensions with the
processes of Europeanization and implementation, a
strong anti-austerity movement emerged from civil
society. The 15-M movement or Indignants movement
on 15 May 2011 was the first organized response to the
Euro crisis and its social and political consequences in
Spain. This social uprising in many streets and squares
of Spain – with demonstrations and camps – expressed
the political articulation of collective understandings in a
different way, in contrast to those expressed by the political
elites and the two-party system. Polls at that time showed
80% of Spaniards agreed with the demands of the 15-M
movement.
40
Parallel – and probably in correlation – to these movements,
the general opinion of Spaniards on EU issues was changing
as shown below in Figure 2. Data provided by Eurobarometer
polls show a dramatic decline of trust in and the positive
image of the EU. Spain had in 2004 one of the highest
levels of trust in the EU – around 60% - and it dropped
particularly between 2009 and 2012, a period in which the
above described Europeanization processes took place in
Spanish politics.
Likewise, the positive image of the EU also declined; as
shown in Figure 3, Spain is the country, among the 27
Member States, where the percentage of the public with
a positive image of the European Union dropped most
between 2004 and 2012.
35. Börzel and Risse (2000b, p. 8-9).
36. Vazquez Garcia (2012, p. 110-111).
37. Only the Communist Party, later integrated into Izquierda Unida (United Left), had a critical position that might be called federalism
maximalism (Vazquez Garcia, 2012, p. 115) rather than Euroscepticism; it was only critical about some economic policies and political
procedures (lack of democracy of international institutions) but not about the Europeanization processes as a whole.
38. The turnout was just 41.8%,the lowest since the end of the Franco era, in contrast to the 63% in the Netherlands, 69% in France and 88%
in Luxemburg.
39. Ladrech (2009, p. 4).
40. See a survey by Havas Media on 1 June 2011. Extracted from:
public opinion about the 15 May mobilization (Calvo et al., 2011, p. 5)
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
Figure 2. Percentage of Spaniards who trust in or have a positive image of the EU (2004-2015)41
Trust
70 %
60 %
50 %
40 %
30 %
20 %
10 %
0 %
2004 2009 2012 2013 2015
Positive Image
41. This figure was prepared by the author with data extracted from the European Commission website:
archives/eb_arch_en.htm>.
42. This figure was prepared by the author with data extracted from the European Commission website:
archives/eb_arch_en.htm>. It was also inspired by an article in El Diario.es: .eldiario.es/piedrasdepapel/Espana-europeismo-
euroescepticismo_6_88601155.html>.
Decrease of the positive image of
the EU
Spain
Ireland
Portugal
Italy
Greece
Romania
Lithuania
0 % 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 %
Figure 3. Decrease in the positive image of the EU (2004-2012)42
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
In sum, Europeanization processes affecting domestic
policies caused a shift in Spaniards’ opinions on EU issues
that, due to a lack of a reliable political alternative within
the Spanish party system, was in principle expressed
through social mobilizations. On the basis of a logic of
appropriateness, it can be argued that the conflicting social
scenario from 2010 to 2012 was a clash of different social
expectations and collective understandings with the aim of
redefining the general values and identities of the political
actors. An organised civil society showed its disagreement
with the austerity measures and its opposition to an
increasingly closed political class. The identities of the
political actors were questioned and redefined during these
years since the 15-M movement was also a long discussion
about the left, the alternatives and the adequacy and
desirability of the political tools and actors, e.g. political
parties.
4.2.1 Indirect effects on the Spanish party system
The crisis of the two-party system was not evident until
a credible altern ative – based o n previous debates and
redefinitions of values, goals and tools (actors) – emerged.
The political party Podemos was launched in January 2014
and gained five seats in the 2014 May European election
with 7.98% of the vote as the fourth most popular political
force. This unexpected result was followed by a dramatic
increase in its popularity, as shown in the opinion polls.
43
Figure 4 compares the fluctuations in voting intention for
the People’s Party (PP, the party in power) and Podemos
from the results in the May 2014 European election until the
results in the General Election in December 2015.
The two main parties’ combination vote (PSOE and PP)
was below 50% in the last European elections, the first
time in post-dictatorship Spain’s democracy; in this vein,
43. The last electoral report of the CIS (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas) in October 2014 show that Podemos was the first force in
voting intention while the third in voting estimation, taking into account certain correctors to make the predictions.
44. Figure 4 was prepared by the author with data from the CIS (Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas) corresponding to various opinion polls.
Data can be extracted from the following website: es/cis/opencm/ES/1_encuestas/TiposEncuestas/EncuestasElectorales/
encuestaselectorales.jsp>.
Figure 4. Voting intention and electoral results44
35 %
30 %
25 %
20 %
15 %
10 %
5 %
0 %
May. 2014 (E.E) Oct. 2014 Ap. 2015 Oct. 2015 Dec. 2015 (E.G)
Podemos
PP
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
in the December 2015 General Election the percentage of
vote of the PSOE and PP only came to 50.73% as shown
in Table 3. The effects of the rise of Podemos – along with
other emergent political parties like Ciudadanos - can also
be noted in the political agenda of the two main parties by
attempting to incorporate new demands into their political
programmes.
Table 3. Percentage of vote in 3 general elections in Spain
2008 (%) 2011 (%) 2015 (%)
People’s Party (PP)
39.94 44.63 28.72
Socialist Party (PSOE)
43.87 28.76 22.01
Podemos
_ _ 20.66
Ciudadanos
_ _ 13.93
United Left (IU)
3.77 6.92 3.67
It can be argued that the launch of the political party
Podemos in January 2014, whereby a group of political
activists took advantage of the structure of opportunity
opened up in the country, operated primarily under a logic
of consequentialism. This stage of the political process is
characterised by the well-defined competing actors and the
fixed preferences distributed along the political landscape;
this new scenario for party competition produced a resource
redistribution,
45
establishing a new power balance in the
Spanish political landscape as shown in Table 3.
4.2.3. The political discourse of Podemos on EU issues
In contrast to the Europhile political system that
characterized Spain before the Euro crisis and its political
and social consequences, Podemos showed a direct appeal
to the European problem. Nevertheless, this party addresses
the topic of the European Union in different terms from
the classical Eurosceptic parties in Europe. The launch of
Podemos’s European election campaign took place in Berlin,
with a clear discourse by Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the
party, against the elites. The depiction of Angela Merkel and
more generally the European elites as opposed to democracy
and social rights was part of the anti-establishment discourse
articulated by Podemos and especially by Iglesias.
The discourse of Podemos has been constituted on the basis
of a clear critique of the current European Union but, at
the same time, it shows a clear defence of the putative
true values of Europe. There are two crucial features of the
political discourse of Podemos on EU issues that represent a
tension between a hard critique of the current state of the EU
and the necessity to preserve and strengthen the European
level against the regression to exclusive national contexts.
The first aspect of the political discourse of Podemos on
EU issues was expressed by Pablo Iglesias in the following
terms in the European election campaign:
[…] that’s what they want us to be, a colony of Germany and
that’s what we will say in Europe, that we do not want to be
a colony of Germany, that we are a people who want dignity
with other countries and peoples of the south, we will say no.46
On 1 July 2014 during the first speech by Pablo Iglesias as
an elected MP in the European Parliament, he expressed the
same criticism of the model of Europe that, in his opinion,
negatively affects the peripheral countries and is based on
unelected powers.
[…] in the European periphery the situation is tragic: our countries
have become almost protectorates, almost new colonies,
where unelected powers are destroying social rights and
threatening the social and political cohesion of our societies.
47
Despite the clear opposition to the European powers, this
fierce criticism of a model of Europe is combined with a
clear defence of an abstract idea of Europe, another Europe,
some type of authentic Europe based on the original values.
Some say that we are Eurosceptics. We love Europe if Europe
means freedom, equality and fraternity, we love Europe if
Europe means social rights, we love Europe if Europe means
human rights. The problem is not Europe, the problem is that
45. Risse and Borzel (2000a, p. 13)
46. Speech by Pablo Iglesias on 23 May 2014 in Madrid in the European election campaign. Translated directly by the author from a transcription
of a video extracted from: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DipcspGXx7k&list=PLaW8IgjEn4d04xcsbVT1w_QfLTGmukHqB&index2>.
47. Speech by Pablo Iglesias on 1 July 2014 in the Election of the President of the European Parliament, author’s translation, extracted from
<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+CRE+20140701+ITEM-004+DOC+XML+V0//ES&language=es&qu
ery=INTERV&detail=2-009-000>.
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
the European Central Bank president is called Mario Draghi and
was a representative of Goldman Sachs in Europe... Europe’s
problem is called Durau Barroso... that’s why we say along with
other southern Europeans that we want to recover the dignity
and the future of our peoples and our countries.
48
Likewise, the vindication of Europe on the basis of different
values and powers than those regulating EU institutions at
present can be found in the first parliamentary speech by
Pablo Iglesias at the European Parliament:
The expropriation of sovereignty and the submission to the
rule of financial elites threaten the present and the future
of Europe... it must demonstrate sensitivity and become the
epicentre of a democratic jolt in the European Union, a jolt
that stops the authoritarian drift of the Troika.
Concluding remarks
The document analysis and content analysis conducted
in this study reveal the transformation of the political
space in Spain after the intensification of Europeanization
processes in the country. These Europeanization processes
have been documented with several official statements and
declarations that indicate the causal links between EU norms
and regulations and Spanish economic and political measures
to cope with the crisis. In addition, the empirical findings in
this study suggest that Europeanization processes affected
not only economic and social policy in Spain but also the
political space and Spanish party competition; this study
identifies a two-fold effect of policy convergence of the
mainstream parties and political convergence in a broader
sense (reform of the Spanish Constitution and change in
the general perception of the electorate).
The political convergence and the unpopular measures
implemented by the Spanish authorities caused a reaction
in Spanish civil society that can be analytically divided
into two stages: first, a stage of expression of divergent
social expectations and values and redefinition of identities
through protest and mobilization; then second, a group of
political activists attempted to use the new map of identities
and social expectations by bringing it to the competition
for political power in a more strategically-driven stage.
Therefore, this contribution also seems to confirm that the
two logics – the logic of appropriateness and the logic of
consequentialism – operated in a sequential way but also
overlapped on several occasions and certainly reinforced
each other during the whole process. Several mediating
factors permitted the implementation of a real change in
the political landscape, such as the lack of veto players, the
uncontested power of the winning coalition and the presence
of norm entrepreneurs able to persuade a wide public.
Despite its exploratory nature, the analysis of the political
discourse of Podemos on EU issues offers some insight
into its salience and direction. On the one hand, EU issues
seem to play a central role in the articulation of Podemos’s
discourse in its initial phase, that is, the 2014 European
Election campaign, but on the other hand the findings
suggest an ambivalent appeal of the political discourse of
Podemos on Europe and EU issues. Whereas the depiction
of European leaders as gangsters indicates a strong rhetoric
against Europeanization processes, the defence of authentic
European values is also a constitutive part of Podemos’s
discourse on EU issues.
Quantitative analysis of comprehensive data of the political
activity of Podemos is required to determine the precise
characteristics of its discourse on EU issues. Likewise, future
research will conduct full analysis of the political processes
involved in the emergence of the party and the complex
causal connections will have to be represented in detailed
explanatory diagrams. These explanatory models should
be confronted with alternati ve expl anations that can be
incorporated or rejected on the basis of extended empirical
evidence. The feedback loop of the political discourses of
Podemos on Europeanization processes would also be a
fruitful area for further work.
48. Speech by Pablo Iglesias on 22 May 2014 at Seville in the European election campaign. Translated directly by the author from a transcription
of a video extracted from: .youtube.com/watch?v=Uw7_GrvxBPk&list=PLaW8IgjEn4d04xcsbVT1w_QfLTGmukHqB&index=6>.
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Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis…
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Recommended citation
ROCH GONZÁLEZ, Juan (2017). “Europeanization in the shadow of the financial crisis: disruptive effects
on the Spanish party system”. IDP. Revista de Internet, Derecho y Política. No. 24, pp. 21-36. UOC
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About the author
Juan Roch González
juan.roch.gonzalez@fu-berlin.de
Doctoral researcher
Center for Transnational Relations, Foreign and Security Policy
Otto-Suhr-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin
Juan Roch Gonzalez is a doctoral researcher in political science at Freie Universität Berlin who spends
most of his time these days conducting research on populism, the emergence of new political parties
in Europe and their links to Europeanization processes. He studied his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology
in Madrid and his Master’s degree in Barcelona, Spain. He has also completed a partial Master’s degree
in Political Science at Universität Berlin and several courses and seminars on social science methods.
In his prior research work he analysed the new social movements in Spain and Europe and the role of
the traditional media and new Information and Communication Technologies in these movements. His
most recent publication is “Podemos und die neuen Medien”, an article focused on the use of digital
media by the political party Podemos.
Otto-Suhr-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin
Ihnestr. 22
14195 Berlin
