—Nicole Scicluna, Department of Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS), University of Birmingham The euro crisis started in Greece and to Greece it returned. Since the Syriza government’s election in January 2015, we have seen a succession of intense and sometimes acrimonious exchanges between Greek officials and representatives of the IMF, EU and member state governments, which
European Court of Human Rights Condemns Greece for Banning Same-Sex Civil Unions
–Christina M. Akrivopoulou, Greek Refugee Appeals Authority On November 7, the European Court of Human Rights decided Vallianatos and others v. Greece, which condemned Greece for banning same-sex civil unions. Law 3719/2008 introduced civil unions within Greece as an alternative to the institution of marriage for heterosexual couples that share stable relationships, but excluded same-sex
Golden Dawn Party Faces Prosecution
–Christina M. Akrivopoulou, Appeals Asylum Authority, Greece One of the most important recent events in Greece has been the attempt to prosecute the far-right Golden Dawn party. The ongoing prosecution raises important questions about the proper limits of toleration for ultra-nationalist, racist parties in a democracy. Golden Dawn is a far right-extremist political party currently
The Silent Greek Crisis: Nationalism, Racism and Immigration
–Christina M. Akrivopoulou, Adjunct Lecturer, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece Ever since the early nineties Greece has become a major destination state for immigrants, mainly due to the fall of the former communist regimes of Eastern Europe. For a number of years immigrants from neighbor countries of the Balkans have resided in Greece as undocumented
Amending the Greek Constitution in a Time of Crisis: The Greek Socialist Party’s (PASOK) Blueprint
–Christina M. Akrivopoulou, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece On the 24th of July 2013, on the 38th anniversary of the Greek Constitution of 1975 and the return to Democracy after the ‘Colonels’ dictatorship (1967-1974), the President of the Greek Socialist Party and a well known constitutionalist, Evangelos Venizelos, presented a proposed fourth amendment of the
Facing l’etat d’exception: The Greek Crisis Jurisprudence
—Christina M. Akrivopoulou, Adjunct Lecturer, Democritus University of Thrace Greek courts have only recently attempted to control the Memoranda entered into between the Greek state and the European Union and IMF, which impose austerity measures on the country. This judicial self-restraint has mainly been due to the extreme severity of the financial crisis. In theory,
Greece’s Constitutional Revision Dilemmas
–Xenophon Contiades and Alkmene Fotiadou, Centre for European Constitutional Law Greece is about to revise its Constitution. The question is why now and towards which direction. The timing is connected to the prerequisites of the amending formula, which sets a mandatory time lapse between revisions, that is, revision of the Constitution is not permitted within
The Greek Austerity Measures: Violations of Socio-Economic Rights
—George Katrougalos, Professor of Public Law, Demokritus University, Greece (gkatr@otenet.gr) Recently, the European Committee of Social Rights (the supervisory body of the European Social Charter) delivered two decisions on collective complaints, condemning Greece for violation of articles 10 and 12 of the Charter because of its austerity legislation enacted in 2010. (The Committee has also
