Eurozone Crisis Narratives in Austeritarian Countries The Cases of Portugal and Spain

The last decades have been marked by the enhancement of Europeanisation and the politicisation of European issues on national public spheres. In 2009, the outbreak of Eurozone crisis had hastened this process, and European issues have become significantly more contested in national public spheres. Taking into account Habermas’s classic conceptualization of public sphere, the weakness that EU faces due to a lack of common European public sphere only can be overcome if European issues were discussed and reported in the various media among Europe at the same time, with the same level of attention and framed in similar ways across national media. This article tests the idea that Portugal and Spain, countries that faced austerity measures, present similar narratives regarding the Eurozone crisis, showing southern Europe collective understanding of the crisis. Specifically, we expect that economic, political, democratic and media resemblance, lead to a common pattern regarding the way national media report the question, framing it through a moral point of view, notably after the Eurozone crisis. Moreover, we expect a significant change in salience and relevance of European economic issues before and after the crisis, increasing the EU presence on national media after the crisis outbreak in both countries. To test our hypotheses, we will analyse all economic news from the national printed press - one left-wing and one right-wing mainstream newspaper of each country- Público and Diário de Notícias (Portugal) and El País and El Mundo (Spain). The time-period selected is one month before each legislative election: two elections before the Eurozone crisis (2005 in Portugal and 2004 in Spain) and two legislative elections during the crisis (2011 for both countries). We will carry out a content analysis, looking into five dominant frames (responsibility, conflict, human interest, economic consequences and morality) as well the tone and media attention. This approach will allow us to assess how the crisis changed the way national media portrayed European questions and if the austeritarian countries reported the European issues similarly. Analysing the way European economic issues are framed in national media is crucial since the media are the main source of information for European citizens and help us understand the monetary integration process, especially during a context of high conflict and polarization - the national electoral campaigns - which has never been tested yet.