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The Greek economic crisis produced severe economic and social outcomes. A massive rescue package was conditional on implementing a Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies agreed upon between the Greek government and the EU, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. The extremely austere fiscal consolidation and the structural reforms accompanying the Greek Economic Adjustment Programmes reduced the country's GDP. Implementing the austerity policies on the Greek National Health System, which was already facing structural problems, reduced the quality and availability of public health care services. This paper investigates the impact of the GDP change on public healthcare expenditures (HCE) from 2000 to 2018. The empirical analysis reveals a statistically significant positive correlation between the GDP per capita and public healthcare expenditure (HCE) from 2000 to 2014 while the effect of GDP on HCE after the 2015 remains unchanged. This paper contributes to the field's literature since it determines the impact of GDP on public HCE, specifically matched with empirical results to derive conclusive answers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following bailouts by the Troika (EC, ECB and IMF) due to the 2008 global financial crisis, between 2010 and 2013, new anti‐austerity movements, left‐wing parties and trade unions led large mobilisations against austerity policies in Greece and Portugal, with a deep impact in the political landscape of both countries. Besides the relevance of transnational decisions, these mobilisations mostly addressed national political institutions, whereas the governments that emerged from the protest period showed a clear pro‐European stance. Against this background, using two case studies with primary data on anti‐austerity protests and interactions amongst contentious and institutional actors, this article aims to shed light on a relatively unexplored aspect of Europeanisation in the context of the crisis, focusing on the relation between social movements and institutional politics. Explaining the critical pro‐EU positions that have been adopted in Greece and Portugal, it thereby contributes to the related debates on anti‐austerity social movements and their impact in times of crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent literature argues that with ever‐increasing levels of supranational constraints governments have less 'room to manoeuvre'; therefore, voters will place less weight on policy outcomes in their voting decisions. The question that remains less explored is how voters fill this accountability gap. We argue that, in this context, voters may move away from outcome‐ to input‐oriented voting. Fulfilling their promises becomes less vital for incumbents as long as they exhibit effort to overturn an unpopular policy framework. We test this argument against a survey experiment conducted in the run‐up to the September 2015 election in Greece, where we find a positive impact of the incumbent's exerted effort to challenge the status quo of austerity on vote intention for SYRIZA – the senior coalition government partner at the time – despite the failed outcome of the government's bailout negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does forced migration feature in EU member states' foreign policy and how does it affect their bargaining strategies? While the literature highlights EU‐level policies aiming to manage forced migration flows, we examine how Greece sought to leverage its response to the 2015–16 European migrant crisis. We propose a theoretical framework that explains why the SYRIZA–ANEL government sought to leverage Greece's position as a refugee‐host state via an issue​‐linkage strategy tying the management of forced migration to economic aid over the Third Economic Adjustment Programme. Initially employing a 'blackmailing' strategy focused on threats, Greece shifted to a 'backscratching' strategy of co‐operation after March 2016, once its geopolitical importance and numbers of asylum seekers within its territory were reduced. We provide the first detailed analysis of Greece's foreign policy response to the European migrant crisis, demonstrating the importance of forced displacement in the international politics of EU member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains the sharp divide in European public attitudes toward Grexit? We explore this question using original surveys from four of the largest European economies. We contend that differences in economic self-interest, and the often-mentioned chasm between supporters of mainstream and extremist parties, provide little insight into the public divide over Grexit. Instead, we show that the key factor is the split between the left and the right. We then develop and test a set of theoretical explanations for the prominence of this cleavage. We find that the left-right divide over Grexit is not driven by differences in attitudes on redistribution, levels of empathy, or general European Union support. Instead, left and right voters seem to have different expectations about how a default and exit of a currency-union member would affect the European economy. These expectations likely reflect differences in core beliefs about the consequences of a free-market approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines the health reform trajectory in Greece in the last decade. The first part provides an overview of the Greek healthcare system shortly before the crisis, with an emphasis on the incomplete development of a national health system beset by inequalities in coverage and funding. At the backdrop of the crippling debt-crisis that engulfed the country in the late 2000s, the second part of the study tracks the major healthcare reforms under the successive bailout packages. These are examined from the point of view of whether they can secure the public system's long-term viability and promote equity, or if they contribute to its withering away instead. The third part of the article looks at the impact of the austerity-driven reforms on inequalities in healthcare, highlighting some major findings regarding health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greece’s economic crisis is a by-product of a deeper institutional, political and societal crisis. The crisis brought about a bailout programme conditional on fiscal and structural reform, as set forth in three successive memoranda of understanding between Greece and its creditors. The domestic political class accepted these memoranda, albeit reluctantly. After the initial response with its populist overtones and the subsequent long and tortuous process of adjustment, the country now seems close to a consensus on a minimum reform agenda. However, Greece needs a change of paradigm: a shift away from deep-rooted attitudes that have impaired the country’s tremendous potential, to a culture of reform and growth. Its political leadership has to come up with a plan, one embraced by the people, that will push the country out of the current catastrophic interlude and lead it into a new virtuous cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an editorial on the victory of the Greek left-wing political party Syriza in the September 2015 elections wherein the party leader, Alexis Tsipras, was re-elected the country's Prime Minister. Topics discussed include Syriza winning a parliamentary election for the first time in January 2015, and the Greek Referendum on austerity that was held in July 2015.

In this paper, we model the interactions between Greece and its creditors as a costly signalling game. The main argument is that a costly exchange of information can improve the recipient's incentives to comply with conditionality. If creditors can credibly signal that suspending financial assistance is a viable option, they will be able to extract concessions from the recipient. Conversely, if the feasibility of the outside option is in doubt, threats to withhold financial support will be toothless. Our contribution is to highlight the role of information exchanges during crisis bargaining. Such signalling mechanisms are central to understanding the outcomes of the Greek debt drama, but are absent from existing accounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instructed theoretically by the critical discussion on the media’s alignment with the institutions of power in societies, this study examines how the Greek legacy press framed the discussion over the crisis, by focusing on the bailout agreements Greece signed with the troika during the period 2010–2012. The analysis, following a three-step process in frames’ detection, focuses on the associations of actors and their responsibility, causes, solutions and effects of the crisis and the bailouts, as appearing in the news texts studied, and reveals a de-contexualised neoliberal discourse articulated through three distinct frames: the dependency, the (non)liability and the austerity frame. The representations of the financial crisis in the newspapers studied largely echo the neoliberal voices and strengthen the hegemonic discourse over the necessity and inescapability of the bailout policies, feeding the ‘masterframe’ of the neoliberal vision of the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Greek social imagination and daily experiences during the debt crisis particularly in relation to Germany, which is increasingly the object of public suspicion with reference to its role in Greece's bailout program. The essay investigates the prevailing Greek fantasy of nativism and the role of the visual in its constitution and conception during a period characterized by anxiety over national sovereignty. Furthermore, the article explores Greek-German social relations in western highland Crete, which lies at the intersection of cultural investments, as an archetype of the native. The essay especially focuses on photography and other material practices in unraveling the complexities, circularities, and ambivalences in the relationship between Cretans and German tourists and between Greek national imagination and German cultural representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debt crisis that broke out in Greece in 2009 and the conditions accompanying the bail out loans received, led to a dramatic decrease in social spending and social benefits. At the same time the need to curb spending led to major reform initiatives that transformed key aspects of the welfare state, such as the pension and health systems. The paper tries to understand to what extent the changes introduced since the outbreak of the crisis constitute a radical departure from past institutional arrangements. To this end, it examines how the reforms introduced in key welfare institutions, the austerity measures adopted, alongside changes in the labour market and family arrangements have transformed the welfare state. It concludes that while the crisis has indeed triggered the introduction of radical reforms, it is premature to speak of a complete model change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the beginning of the financial crisis, the financial burdens associated with the restructuring or the resolution of distressed financial institutions were primarily borne by the states and, ultimately, by the taxpayers. This paradigm, however, is about to change. Both on a global and on a European level, the creditor bail-in is currently replacing the former taxpayer bail-out. Henceforward, private creditor rather than public taxpayer funds will be used to stabilise and restructure distressed financial institutions. With the entering into force of the European Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) in July of 2014, the creditor bail-in has also become the tool of choice within the European Union. This paradigm change entails considerable economic risks for creditors and depositors of financial institutions and may, as the events in Cyprus in 2013 demonstrate, also give rise to legal challenges by aggrieved parties. This article gives an overview on the legal questions surrounding a mandatory participation of creditors and depositors and suggests that the legality and thus the success of the bail-in tool in Cyprus and beyond will ultimately be for judges and arbitrators to decide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the persistence of the Greek Syriza party and parliamentary ally Independent Greeks in resisting the Eurozone program of austerity set by European Union creditors for resolving the country's financial crisis and recession. It takes note of the propensity of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and finance minister Yanis Varoufakis to oppose German economic orthodoxy. The cost and duration of paying Grek debt after the bailout is also discussed.

This article presents information on the debt crisis of Greece and its bailout deals. It discusses the financial crisis faced by the country in 2015, the bailout from the International Monetary Fund in 2015, the decline in the country's economic output since 2010, and the challenges facing the Eurozone in the bailout deals.

Two centuries of Greek debt crises highlight the pitfalls of relying on external financing. Since its independence in 1829, the Greek government has defaulted four times on its external creditors, and it was bailed out in each crisis. We show that cycles of external crises and dependence are a perennial theme of Greek modern history - with repeating patterns: prior to the default, there is a period of heavy borrowing from foreign private creditors. As repayment difficulties arise, foreign governments step in, help to repay the private creditors, and demand budget cuts and adjustment programs as a condition for the official bailout loans. Political interference from abroad mounts and a prolonged episode of debt overhang and financial autarky follows. At present, there is considerable evidence to suggest that a substantial haircut on external debt is needed to restore the economic viability of the country. Even with that, a policy priority for Greece is to reorient, to the extent possible, towards domestic sources of funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, focusing on the role of Germany in responding to the crisis in relation to the country's politics, government, and history. The author presents a case for the view that the crisis is not likely to lead to the collapse of the euro monetary union and that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's policies in handling the crisis reflect continuity with Germany's ordoliberal economic policy tradition. Topics include Germany's economic power within Europe, financial bailouts and the eventual requirement for private creditors to pay part of the cost of bailout, austerity economic policies, how ordoliberalism differs from neoliberalism, monetary policy and inflation, and German public opinion.

This article considers restructuring efforts in Greece in light of the current legal framework for sovereign debt. It argues that the lack of a formal framework for the resolution of sovereign debt defaults often works to the benefit of a sovereign's creditors, who are usually in a better position politically and economically to dictate negotiations and demand repayment. The article outlines Greece's experience of bailouts and restructuring and considers the applicability of the concept of odious debt to Greece. While odious debt discourse may be appropriate to Greece's situation, the bailouts and restructuring have worked to obscure any possible illegitimacy of Greek sovereign debt. It is unclear which part of the Greek government authorised these debts and what the lenders knew when providing the funds. The article concludes a comprehensive debt audit is needed to uncover the truth about the illegitimacy or otherwise of Greece's sovereign debt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the political effects of the global economic recession on Greece in the period from 2010 up to the last weeks of the campaign period for the national elections of 6 May 2012. Our objectives are threefold. First we seek to contextualize its impact and show how the Greek party system departed from the nearly three decades of stability after 2009 and entered a period electoral fluidity and dealignment. Second we identify the demographic and structural characteristics of that dealignment process. Finally we interpret and compare the effect of the economic crisis and other issues on vote choice in the 2012 general election. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article considers the impact of the economic, social and political crisis on the labour law regimes of two of the Member States of the EU most affected; Greece and Ireland. Both countries have been the recipients of 'bail-out' deals, negotiated and monitored by what has become known as the ' Troika' of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The article considers the extent to which both countries have been required to make amendments to their labour law regimes as a condition of their bail-outs. It argues that the changes demanded reflect the basic norm now governing the EU legal order, namely that of 'competition'; the logic of market integration based on the primacy of economic competition. The article sets the reforms in Greece and Ireland within the broader context of the 'social deficit' problem of the EU construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), a slim and temporary bailout fund created by the European Union in May 2010 to quell a growing sovereign debt crisis in Europe, became the foundation for a permanent, more powerful institution, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), adopted in March 2011. Did the creation of the EFSF constrain policy-makers and narrow down the path of options subsequently available to them? This paper assesses whether the euro crisis of 2010–2012 provides an instance of historical institutionalism in action, whereby the institutional creation decided at the critical juncture of the initial reaction to the crisis transformed the path of options available at later attempts to tackle the crisis, sometimes with unintended consequences. Through careful process tracing, we analyze the temporal sequences of reactions to the crisis and argue that the creation of the EFSF and ESM created path dependency in the subsequent management of an unrelenting crisis, enshrined intergovernmentalism as the modus operandi, and led to suboptimal solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]