The paper will analyze how the complex European elite system with its mix of national and supranational components has responded to the serious crisis of the past several years. It examines the positions taken by the different components of the elite system across time in order to detect differences in reaction speeds, framings of interests, and instruments devised to solve the problems arising from the crisis. More specifically it tries to evaluate to what extent positions of national elites are synchronized or not with those of the Europena institutions.The paper’s broad purpose is to contribute to a better understanding of European governance from the perspective of elite theory.
