This Time Wasn't Different: Responsiveness and Responsibility in the Eurozone between 2007 and 2019

This article investigates the balance between responsiveness and responsibility in France, Germany and Spain between 2017 and 2019. Based on the party‐politics literature, the article argues that during crises responsibility may temporarily increase, but that subsequently governments need to base their actions on responsive policy criteria in order to maintain citizens' trust. Yet, given the dominance of austerity ideas during this decade and the introduction of a more stringent European fiscal framework, it is questionable whether responsiveness increased after the Eurozone crisis. Analysing original data from the yearly budget speeches of ministers of finance, the article finds that responsibility dominated budgetary policy‐making in the early 2010s and that since 2014 responsiveness has increased, regardless of a country's financial situation. Furthermore, during the crisis responsibility tended to be higher under centre‐right cabinets. The article portrays the early 2010s as an episode of ‘politics in hard times’ during which governments chose their policy response based on their ideas.