Crises in Greece and Sustainable Development

Abstract

Sustainability and conditions that support a country to achieve its strategic goals are usually considered a critical priority for the international community. This paper examines the case of Greece, a country that was called upon to face successive crises during the last dec-ades which in almost all cases posed serious risks to the security of the country and its citizens. In crisis events that Greece faced lately, these were imported from abroad and they affected all levels of society: the global financial crisis that started in the US in 2008, the pandemic crisis that first appeared in China in late 2019, and finally the energy crisis that intensified from the beginning of 2020. Greece has tried to respond with internal balancing strategies at home with a series of measures and actions, while at the same time acting with external balancing strategies, as a member of the EU and the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO). The country has tried to deal with the successive crises having a positive result so far, but at a heavy price that has negatively affected the country’s development, often causing setbacks and delays in many areas of the economy, environment, and social life. As a result, the Greek economic crisis followed which affected all aspects of the social life in the country, making worse the economic parameters, affecting the relationship between the citizens and the state, and putting the normality of life into question. There are several studies published during the last years highlighting various aspects of the Greek economic crisis that provided specific answers regarding the main causes of the eruption of the Greek economic crisis as well as the proposals to deal with it. The purpose of this study is to highlight the impact of successive crises, which are due to both exogenous and endogenous factors, and that Greece has recently faced and identified the main effects on the Greek economy and its sustainability. The analysis adopts the time series of crises: economic, pandemic, and energy.