Austerity-Based Labour Market Reforms in Greece v. Fundamental Rights in the Aftermath of the European Debt Crisis: An Analysis of Supranational and National Bodies’ Jurisprudence

Abstract

The recent debt crisis in Europe has resulted in a significant number of structural reforms implemented in EU Member States across various fields, including the labour market, either in the context of the bailout mechanisms or the EU Economic Governance framework. This development has provoked fundamental rights concerns and has consequently given rise to legal mobilization strategies that put austerity reforms under the test of legality before supranational and national competent bodies. However, the jurisprudence that has developed in that regard seems incoherent and shows real differences in approach. This study analyzes the paths of judicial reasoning that supranational and Greek bodies have adopted in fundamental rights cases challenging austerity-based labour market reforms implemented in Greece during the European Debt Crisis. It concludes that different paths of reasoning have been adopted, which could even be regarded as conflicting at several instances, reflecting in that way the well-known particularities and discrepancies of fundamental rights protection in Europe and the conflicting relationship of fundamental (social) rights with economic and fiscal considerations imposed by austerity in times of crisis and beyond.

Keywords: European Sovereign Debt Crisis, Fundamental Rights, Social Rights, Austerity Measures, Labour Law, Human Rights, European Law, European Social Charter, Court of Justice of the EU, European Court of Human Rights, Constitutional Law, Greek Debt Crisis, Labour Market