The Greek crisis has left behind far-reaching economic adjustment and reforms coexisting with debilitating socioeconomic legacies. Greece’s equivalent of a Great Depression unleashed extreme sociopolitical tensions; yet upon graduating the Memoranda, Greek parliamentary democracy demonstrates remarkable resilience. After a peak of anti-EU sentiment, Greece now claims one of the most pro-EU parliamentary majorities and a public opinion strongly supportive of participation in the EU and the euro. Why did Greece end up defying the most negative expectations? The talk will address the paradoxes of adjustment and explore dilemmas and prospects.

George Pagoulatos is Professor of European Politics and Economy at the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges. He is Vice-President of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and a Governing Board member of the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels. He was Senior Advisor and Director of Strategy at the PM Office under two Prime Ministers of Greece in 2011-12. He is a well-known public commentator on the crisis, and a regular columnist in the Sunday edition of newspaper Kathimerini since 2007. His research focuses on the EMU and the EU, Greece and Southern Europe, political economy of finance, political economy of reform. Pagoulatos holds degrees from the University of Athens (LLB) and the University of Oxford (MSc and DPhil), where he was a Rhodes scholar. He has authored several books and numerous articles in leading academic journals.