THE IMPACT OF ECONOMIC CRISIS ON THE GREEK STATE

During the financial crisis of 2009 Greece faced an impending fiscal collapse, that was eventually avoided by resorting to a new international Financial Assistance Facility. This unprecedented mechanism was activated for the first time on 23.4.2010. This event and those that followed have a clear impact on the way the Greek State functions, as well as on the party and political system. The political governance of the country has been profoundly affected by the economic governance, which more or less has been co-created by complex international centers of power. The subject matter of the present book is the investigation of the financial crisis impact on the basic state functions: the government, the parliament and the courts. The Greek governments signed three Memoranda of Understanding over five years. This fact had two fundamental consequences: the State borrowed money at favorable interest rates, whereas at the same time the country’s financial autonomy was limited due to the dominance of financial support agreements over government policy. The Greek parliament -aiming at enacting the necessary measures to stabilize the country within the timetable set by the lenders- produced a huge amount of legislation, often by stretching parliamentary procedures like never before. Finally, the courts examined a lot of rights-related cases, that were brought before them as a consequence of the restrictions set by the Memoranda, maintaining at most part a self-restrained attitude. To sum up, a brief reference is made to a possible future constitutional revision, and it is suggested that it shall not be closely related to any necessity that came up during the economic crisis.