The primary response by Greek parties to the crisis has been to divert political accountability through populist blame-shifting

Greece has been hit harder by the financial crisis than any other EU member state, with the economic fallout threatening to undermine the country’s democratic system. Based on an analysis of political speeches, Sofia Vasilopoulou, Daphne Halikiopoulou and Theofanis Exadaktylos assess the response to the crisis by the five parliamentary parties in Greece between 2009 and 2011. They find that populist rhetoric and blame-shifting has been a key component in the responses of all five parties.