Abstract

The current crisis is a moment of rupture for Greece's social model. The two Economic Adjustment Programmes that followed the 2009 sovereign debt crisis have not only triggered a state-led depression but also involved the radical recasting of the pre-crisis labour market institutions and welfare regime. An 'endless' series of reforms have removed the strong legal protection of employment, dismantled collective bargaining, restructured the social security system, downsized the public sector and drastically cut welfare state benefits and services. Combined with depression-level unemployment and the collapse of wages and incomes, these sweeping reforms have not only heightened precariousness and destitution in the short term. They also point to the gradual transition towards a new social model based on deregulated labour markets, residual social protection and a new public-private mix of welfare provision.