El Defensor del Pueblo Europeo y el Tratado de Lisboa

La entrada en vigor del Tratado de Lisboa el 1 de diciembre de 2009 marca la última fase del proceso en curso de reconocimiento y capacitación de los ciudadanos europeos. Una de las principales prioridades del Defensor del Pueblo Europeo durante los próximos cinco años será contribuir a garantizar que la Unión Europea cumpla con los beneficios prometidos a los ciudadanos por el Tratado de Lisboa. El presente artículo describe las repercusiones que tendrá el Tratado en la labor del Defensor del Pueblo Europeo y se centra en las novedades más importantes que aporta el Tratado por lo que respecta a los ciudadanos

Economic crisis and the variety of populist response: Evidence from Greece, Portugal, and Spain

Greece, Portugal and Spain are among the countries worst hit by the 2008 Great Recession, followed by significant electoral and political turmoil. However, one of the dimensions in which they differ is the presence and varieties of populism in parties’ political proposals. Drawing on holistic coding of party manifestos, we assess the varying presence of populist rhetoric in mainstream and challenger parties before and after the 2008 economic downturn. Our empirical findings show that populism is much higher in Greece compared to Spain and Portugal. We do not find a significant impact of the crisis as the degree of populism remains rather stable in Greece and Portugal, while it increases in Spain, mainly due to the rise of new populist forces. The study confirms that populist rhetoric is a strategy adopted mainly by challenger and ideologically radical parties. In addition, inclusionary populism is the predominant flavour of populist parties in new Southern Europe, although exclusionary populism is present to a lesser extent in the Greek case. We contend that the interaction between the national context – namely the ideological legacy of parties and the main dimensions of competition – and the strategic options of party leadership is crucial for explaining cross-country variation in the intensity of populism and the specific issues that characterise populist discourse