Journal of Modern Greek Studies 32 (2014) 70–94 © 2014 by he Johns Hopkins University Press 70 National Political Parties and EU Policy Developments: he Case of Greece Prior to the Crisis Zoe Lekofridi Abstract Greece’s membership in the European Union (EU) and EU policies became key issues in the elections that took place during economic crisis, namely the May and June 2012 legislative and the May 2014 European elections. As the crisis was, and continues to be, an extraordinary period for both Greece and the EU as a whole, the key question concerns whether, due to their ongo- ing impact on national legislation, EU policy developments have afected national party positions during normal times of integration. However, we know little about Greek party preferences for EU involvement in policy-mak- ing and whether EU policy developments afected party competition before the crisis. he present article thus studies party positioning in the policy space during the decades prior to the crisis (1993–2006) using an original survey inquiring Greek party politicians about the crucial policy areas of agriculture and migration, as well as foreign and security afairs. he study reveals dif- ferences across Greek parties as well as within parties over time and discusses these indings in the context of the broader debate of party (organizational and policy) change in response to European integration. Besides contributing to this scholarly debate—a literature where, thus far, the Greek case is largely absent—this study enhances our understanding of Europeanization efects on Greek party politics. Introduction Following the Second World War, and while Greece was absorbed in internal conlicts, a number of Western European political elites launched a peace proj- ect of cooperation in the coal and steel sectors. he project gradually expanded in scope and membership to become the European Communities (EC). Soon ater the establishment of liberal democracy ater the fall of the military dic- tatorship in 1974, Greece also joined the EC, which was later transformed into 3-32_2 Lefkofridi (70-94).indd 70 8/25/14 9:14 AM