The party politics of the Euro crisis in the German Bundestag : frames, positions and salience.

The Euro crisis has a strong impact on European Union (EU) politics and the EU polity. Crisis-related issues were debated across Europe and governments and EU institutions introduced several institutional instruments which are meant to make EU economic governance more effective. This paper investigates the scope, timing and divisiveness of political contestation, i.e. politicisation, in the GermanBundestagand the frames on which political parties relied in their debates on crisis-induced institutional innovations in the GermanBundestag. To account for these patterns, the paper relies on institutional theories and theories of party competition. Empirically, it draws on written protocols of debates and parliamentary questions in theBundestag. A case study of Germany and theBundestagdoes not lend itself to broad generalisations. Yet, as argued in the article, it is an unlikely case for politicisation and a politically important case. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]