Chapter Title: Conclusion
Book Title: The Legality of Public Pension Reforms in Times of Financial Crisis
Book Subtitle: The Case of Greece
Book Author(s): Dafni Diliagka
Published by: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv941rcf.10
The legality of public pension reforms is grounded in the lawful imple‐ mentation of pension policies, which guarantees the sustainability of the public pension system and public finances as well as the protection of the pensionersrsquo; civil and social rights. Questions of legality arise as the sus‐ tainability of the public pension system and public finances is further en‐ dangered, in times of financial and economic crisis. It is undeniable that the financial and economic crisis brought attention to the correlation be‐ tween the problem of sustainability of the public pension system (which pre-existed the crisis) and the sustainability of the public finances and vice versa. The Greek legislature adopted a procrustean solution to confront these two problems, by reducing the current pension benefits and introduc‐ ing retrogressive pension reforms, thus affecting both the current and prospective pensioners.
My inquiry concentrated on the legality of the public pension reforms and reductions introduced in Greece as a first reaction to the Greek finan‐ cial and economic crisis. The most important and pressing legal question, dealt with in this book, lies in the extent of the necessity and usefulness of this procrustean solution. The present book was confronted with this legal question, taking into regard the new and strong need to contain public spending. In light of the recent economic recession and alarming forecasts of rapidly increasing public pension spending, the sustainability of the public pension system dominated public debate and political discourse. This was the main focus of the Greek state, as well as the demands made by its international creditors namely by the other Member States of the EMU and the IMF. The adoption of pension reforms and old-age pension benefits reductions under the framework of the external financial assis‐ tance became besides the financial crisis a further pressing tool on the leg‐ islature to introduce restrictions on pensionersrsquo; rights. This book high‐ lighted a number of pension reforms issues that have emerged after the crisis, and made some suggestions as to the legal recourse paths which the pensionerrsquo;s rights may take, in order to develop a case against the restric‐ tion of their rights in times of financial and economic crisis.
Starting with chapter one, I attempted to explore the relationship be‐ tween the financial and economic crisis and the retrogressive public pen‐sion reforms; challenging the often-made assumption that public pension schemes can be radically reformed in times of crisis, since in crisis periods the public opinion becomes very sensitive to the burden of pension expen‐ ditures on the public budget and thus it is more possible to accept sacri‐ fices from their present income.[1] Obviously, sovereign public debt is one of the most effective tools to implement domestic economic and social policy.[2] The overall unsustainable economic situation of Greece and the urgent need for the reduction of public deficit led to strong pressures on the Greek state to adopt pension reforms as well as an easy and effective in short-term policy measure, as the old-age pension benefits reductions is. Even if Greece was not directly obliged to reduce the pension expendi‐ tures, it is impossible to consolidate public finances without touching up‐ on the problem of sustainability of the public pension system. The element of urgency for public deficit reduction created further pressure on the Greek legislature to reduce public pension expenditures. Chapter two moved on to the public pension reforms adopted after the outbreak of the domestic financial crisis and the conditional financial facility agreements signed in the period 2010-2012. Chapter three laid down potential individ‐ ual rights and principles that may protect the existing and future positions of the pensioners, and thus providing them with justiciable claims. Chapter four addressed the question relating to the role of the economic and financial crisis and the conditional financial assistance on the justification of the restrictions on the pensionersrsquo; legal positions. The financial crisis and its distinctive element of conditionality appears to play an important role on whether the aims of the legislature to improve the sustainability of the fiscal interests of the state and the public pension system as well as to ensure the proper functioning of the EMU are legitimate. The aims pursued by the legislature may acquire a special gravity through the urgent need of the external financial support. In chapter five, I concluded with some outcomes on the judicial protections of pensionersrsquo; rights in times of financial crisis and the new role of the right to social insurance as well as on recommendations for both the constitutional courts and national legislatures, concerning the proper legal reaction to public pension reforms be‐ ing introduced, by using case-studies as examples.
In these concluding pages, I reflect on the relationship between the pre‐ sented pension reform cases and my underlying analytical framework. In this thesis, it is argued that the recent domestic financial and economic crisis, as well as the stringent conditional financial assistance that Greece re‐ ceived by its international creditors, acted as the main driving force for sweeping cuts to public pension expenditures in order to face pre-existing problems, such as population ageing and the fiscal imbalances of the pub‐ lic pension funds. This argument has, primarily, obvious implicatio
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Chapter Title: Conclusion
Book Title: The Legality of Public Pension Reforms in Times of Financial Crisis
Book Subtitle: The Case of Greece
Book Author(s): Dafni Diliagka
Published by: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv941rcf.10
The legality of public pension reforms is grounded in the lawful imple‐ mentation of pension policies, which guarantees the sustainability of the public pension system and public finances as well as the protection of the pensionersrsquo; civil and social rights. Questions of legality arise as the sus‐ tainability of the public pension system and public finances is further en‐ dangered, in times of financial and economic crisis. It is undeniable that the financial and economic crisis brought attention to the correlation be‐ tween the problem of sustainability of the public pension system (which pre-existed the crisis) and the sustainability of the public finances and vice versa. The Greek legislature adopted a procrustean solution to confront these two problems, by reducing the current pension benefits and introduc‐ ing retrogressive pension reforms, thus affecting both the current and prospective pensioners.
My inquiry concentrated on the legality of the public pension reforms and reductions introduced in Greece as a first reaction to the Greek finan‐ cial and economic crisis. The most important and pressing legal question, dealt with in this book, lies in the extent of the necessity and usefulness of this procrustean solution. The present book was confronted with this legal question, taking into regard the new and strong need to contain public spending. In light of the recent economic recession and alarming forecasts of rapidly increasing public pension spending, the sustainability of the public pension system dominated public debate and political discourse. This was the main focus of the Greek state, as well as the demands made by its international creditors namely by the other Member States of the EMU and the IMF. The adoption of pension reforms and old-age pension benefits reductions under the framework of the external financial assis‐ tance became besides the financial crisis a further pressing tool on the leg‐ islature to introduce restrictions on pensionersrsquo; rights. This book high‐ lighted a number of pension reforms issues that have emerged after the crisis, and made some suggestions as to the legal recourse paths which the pensionerrsquo;s rights may take, in order to develop a case against the restric‐ tion of their rights in times of financial and economic crisis.
Starting with chapter one, I attempted to explore the relationship be‐ tween the financial and economic crisis and the retrogressive public pen‐sion reforms; challenging the often-made assumption that public pension schemes can be radically reformed in times of crisis, since in crisis periods the public opinion becomes very sensitive to the burden of pension expen‐ ditures on the public budget and thus it is more possible to accept sacri‐ fices from their present income.[1] Obviously, sovereign public debt is one of the most effective tools to implement domestic economic and social policy.[2] The overall unsustainable economic situation of Greece and the urgent need for the reduction of public deficit led to strong pressures on the Greek state to adopt pension reforms as well as an easy and effective in short-term policy measure, as the old-age pension benefits reductions is. Even if Greece was not directly obliged to reduce the pension expendi‐ tures, it is impossible to consolidate public finances without touching up‐ on the problem of sustainability of the public pension system. The element of urgency for public deficit reduction created further pressure on the Greek legislature to reduce public pension expenditures. Chapter two moved on to the public pension reforms adopted after the outbreak of the domestic financial crisis and the conditional financial facility agreements signed in the period 2010-2012. Chapter three laid down potential individ‐ ual rights and principles that may protect the existing and future positions of the pensioners, and thus providing them with justiciable claims. Chapter four addressed the question relating to the role of the economic and financial crisis and the conditional financial assistance on the justification of the restrictions on the pensionersrsquo; legal positions. The financial crisis and its distinctive element of conditionality appears to play an important role on whether the aims of the legislature to improve the sustainability of the fiscal interests of the state and the public pension system as well as to ensure the proper functioning of the EMU are legitimate. The aims pursued by the legislature may acquire a special gravity through the urgent need of the external financial support. In chapter five, I concluded with some outcomes on the judicial protections of pensionersrsquo; rights in times of financial crisis and the new role of the right to social insurance as well as on recommendations for both the constitutional courts and national legislatures, concerning the proper legal reaction to public pension reforms be‐ ing introduced, by using case-studies as examples.
In these concluding pages, I reflect on the relationship between the pre‐ sented pension reform cases and my underlying analytical framework. In this thesis, it is argued that the recent domestic financial and economic crisis, as well as the stringent conditional financial assistance that Greece re‐ ceived by its international creditors, acted as the main driving force for sweeping cuts to public pension expenditures in order to face pre-existing problems, such as population ageing and the fiscal imbalances of the pub‐ lic pension funds. This argument has, primarily, obvious implicatio
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