Economic crisis, bailout packages, and austerity measures were the central agenda in Southern European countries for the last few years, while a strong decline of trust in European and national institutions was alarming. This situation created new parties and changed the vote share of some others. Political science scholars have a certain interest and there is a growing literature on the topic; however, one question, in a comparative perspective, remained unanswered: Why are there strong Eurosceptic parties in Italy and Greece, and not in Spain and Portugal? Is it the political culture of populism? Or differences in public opinion and trust are affecting the result?
Today, Eurosceptic parties can affect the future of European Union since they are also represented in the European Parliament. This paper investigates the contradictions in Southern European countries related to public opinion, trust and voting behaviour even if they have faced similar implementations of the crisis and congruent regulations from the European Union. It will use European Election Studies (EES) 2009 and 2014 data, compare the public opinion and trust on one hand, citizen perception of political parties and voting behaviour both in EP elections and national elections on the other. Voting Eurosceptic parties will be considered as the main dependent variable and it will be explained with public opinion, trust and public perception of the economy, and demographics. Descriptive statistics will also be provided for a better understanding and comparison.
