The LSE Hellenic Observatory Discussion Paper Series has released a document titled What Greek political elites think about Europe and the crisis? An exploratory analysis by Yannis Tsirbas and Dimitris Sotiropoulos, which analyzes the views of 74 Greek Members of Parliament (MPs) on European integration and the handling of the economic crisis by the EU.

According to the survey, which took place in 2014, Greek MPs overall continue to be attached to Europe, but evaluate negatively the EU’s institutions’ role during the economic crisis.

In particular, MPs supporting the (then PASOK-ND) government, parliamentarians self-placed at the centre of the left-right spectrum and more experienced MPs, tended to have more pro-European views and attitudes than MPs of the (then) opposition, left-wing MPs and less experienced MPs.

The study finds that the issue of the Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) emerges as the main issue of conflict between the MPs, and that although the crisis has not altered the European identity of Greek parliamentarians, it has nevertheless negatively influenced their perceptions about representation in the EU, the process of European integration, and their evaluation of how EU institutions handled the crisis.

See also: GreeSE Papers & Hellenic Observatory, LSE - Blog