The influence of the eurozone crisis on the rise of populist parties in Hungary and Bulgaria

Abstract

The Eurozone crisis had an economic as well as a political impact on the EU Member States. It influenced the political scene in many EU countries, including Hungary and Bulgaria. The crisis impacted how both Member States voted, and there was a shift in voting patterns in each of these Member States because of the crisis. This research will evaluate the effect the Eurozone crisis had on the political landscape in Hungary and Bulgaria. It will assess how the economic and financial hardships within these two Member States helped populist parties rise in support and become the dominant tables within their respective countries, focusing on the FIDESZ and Jobbik parties in Hungary, and the GERB and the ATTACK! parties in Bulgaria. Populism has been on the rise within these two Member States. This dissertation will investigate the rise to power of these populist parties, where it will be applied to the Hungarian and Bulgarian context. Both Member States were compared and contrasted to see how these populistic parties faired within two different countries. The aftermath of the Eurozone crisis, led to the two populist parties, the FIDESZ and GERB parties, winning a majority in their respective governments in Hungary and Bulgaria. This shows that populism became the mainstream within these countries. This populistic trend gained momentum due to a number of factors which will be tackled in the dissertation. The analysis shows how these populistic parties were fairing within national and European Parliament elections prior, during, and in the aftermath of the Eurozone crisis.