Heracles Moskoff was born in 1970 in Thessaloniki, Greece. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the London School of Economics and has been serving as National Rapporteur of Greece on Trafficking in Human Beings since 2013. Following the transposition of the European Anti-Trafficking Directive, the   was established as a National Coordinating Authority within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Office of the National Rapporteur is responsible for planning, coordinating and implementing the national strategy on combating Trafficking, while representing the country in all international fora, cooperating closely with all competent authorities, International Organizations and civil society stakeholders, and compiling national reports on the basis of which Greece is evaluated internationally.

In his capacity as National Rapporteur, Dr. Moskoff’s main field of interest and expertise is inter-agency cooperation, identifying potential partners in prevention, promoting new partnerships with a view to raising public awareness, educating competent authorities and tackling the ‘demand side’ of Trafficking in Human Beings. In his interview with Greek News Agenda*, Heracles Moskoff spoke about the launching of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), the need to fight against the culture of impunity, the lesser-known facets of trafficking (labour exploitation, forced crime/begging), the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of "due diligence" in supply chains, and finally, the institutional and cultural changes that need to take place in order to protect and assist victims of human trafficking.

What is Greece’s national strategy for combating Human Trafficking? What do you consider to be the recent most important actions implemented by the Office of the National Rapporteur?

Combating Human Trafficking and providing help andprotection for its victims is a matter of coordinated policy and action by both the State and civil society. Our country has been systematically monitoring international and European developments in this field for the past twenty years, taking steps such as the ratification of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its three protocols, the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and the transposition of the anti-trafficking EU Directive .

The Office of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings has prepared a National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings for the period 2019-2023. The National Action Plan is a comprehensive framework for preventing and combating crime, as well as protecting and assisting victims; its actions are structured around 5 strategic axes: 1) Prevention, awareness and reduction of vulnerability, 2) Education and training of people working in the field and development of the institutional framework, 3) Protection, assistance and social reintegration of the victims, 4) Persecuting the crimes and awarding justice, and 5) Promoting cooperation between competent national and international bodies.

Another positive development is the recent launching of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) for the identification and referral of victims of trafficking, which is managed by the National Centre for Social Solidarity and coordinated by the Office of the National Rapporteur. The NRM is a valuable tool for coordinating all competent national services as well as a platform for collecting and processing the personal data of victims seeking protection.

On the occasion of the U.N. World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on July 30 2020, our Office co-organized a special parliamentary session of three competent Parliamentary Committees, with the participation of the President of the Hellenic Republic, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, heads of Parties, four competent Ministers and some 100 MPs, sending a strong message regarding the commitment of the Greek state and its political leadership in the fight against trafficking.

Among other actions implemented is the cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs in creating a training program for primary and secondary school teachers, titled "Human Rights for Beginners”, based on the principles of the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) of the Council of Europe. Also, our Office has recently been particularly active in intensifying its cooperation with the Regional and Local government authorities, signing relevant memoranda that promote issues tackling trafficking in their areas of competence.

Human trafficking is often described as an "invisible crime". Why is that and what can Greece and other countries do to improve documentation and reporting of this issue?

By its very nature, Trafficking in Human Beings is an 'invisible' and rapidly changing phenomenon, difficult and dangerous to investigate. There is the fragmentation of criminal activity and the involvement of various “mediators”; the successive “buying and selling” of victims to new “owners”; the victims’ unawarenessof both the existence of a protective legal framework and of their “trafficked” status; the difficulties of cooperation between victims and authorities, and finally, the general lack of awareness in society as regards this 'invisible' crime, are all factors that make it extremely difficult to identify the chain of accomplices and bring the perpetrators to justice, as well as to locate the victims and provide them with assistance and protection.

Despite the existence of a strong institutional and legal framework, trafficking unfortunately remains underreported and a 'rare crime' in crime statistics, as only a small number of victims are rescued and a small number of exploiters are tried and eventually convicted. This is due to what we call the "culture of impunity", a culture that to a large extent characterizes this crime, both worldwide as well as in Greece.

Cooperation between prosecuting authorities, protection services, society and non-governmental organizations is of vital importance in order to to fight this "culture of impunity" and rescue more victims and potential victims. Certain professional sectors can, with proper training, play a critical role and act as "rescuers" in the course of their duties, recognizing evidence of exploitation and trafficking in human beings. Such professionals may be medical staff, security forces, the judiciary, prosecutors, employees in public transport and in entry points of the country (airports, ports), the staff at the Reception and Identification Centres, social workers, juvenile custodians, etc.

Most of us associate human trafficking with sexual exploitation and total deprivation of liberty, but there are other dimensions to this phenomenon; can you tell us more about them?

The term trafficking, used internationally, is often confused in Greece with sexual exploitation alone. The many other forms of Trafficking in Human Beings have now been integrated into Article 323A of our country’s Penal Code and cover labour exploitation, forced begging, forced crime, slavery or similar practices, servitude, forced marriages and the removal of cells, tissues or organs.

Labour exploitation in particular accounts for 25% of the victims of trafficking in the EU. The European Commission, in its second report on trafficking in human beings in 2018 stressed that progress has been made in identifying victims of trafficking for labour exploitation, however the effort must be ongoing. Moreover, in our country, an increase in cases of forced begging of minors have been recorded, according to the latest Report of the National Referral Mechanism for the year 2020: 73 child victims of forced begging in a total of 167 reports of potential victims of trafficking.

Labour exploitation and modern slavery practices are the second most common form of trafficking in persons after sexual exploitation. Statistics and studies have shown that in many cases, in the various stages of the supply chain, from production to placement of the finished product on the supermarket shelf and the provision of related services, human trafficking is involved (forced/ compulsory labour, child labour, debt bonded labour etc).

Adherence to the principles of "due diligence" in both public and private sector supply chains is necessary in order to mitigate instances of product production or service provision under conditions of exploitation and trafficking in human beings. In essence, the adoption of "due diligence” by public and private companies means that they will only work with suppliers who provide fair and decent working conditions and accept social compliance audits based on international standards of safety and labour law.

What are the challenges in tackling this phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic? How does Greece's position as a transit country for migrants and refugees affect the situation?

The COVID-19 pandemic has indeed created new dangers and challenges for victims of people trafficking and smuggling. It has also exacerbated the vulnerability of groups at high risk of being trafficked, mainly women, girls and unaccompanied minors. This is because, according to World Bank estimates, the pandemic and the ensuing global recession will force some 40 to 60 million people into extreme poverty. The pandemic has also reduced remittances by 20%, further exacerbating the vulnerabilities of high-risk groups that depend on these funds for survival. People working in the informal economy and in jobs fitting the criteria of 3D (Difficult, Dirty, Dangerous) are now even more at risk of being subjected to different forms of exploitation and trafficking.

Additionally, the pandemic has a detrimental effect on access to employment and the rights of migrant workers, especially young women. Many countries closed their borders and implemented lockdowns, leading seasonal and low-wage workers, not just to unemployment but to misery, confinement and despair. Travel restrictions can also lead many migrants or asylum seekers to look for more dangerous migration routes thus making them even more vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation, either in transit or in destination countries.

Greece, due to its geographical location as a gateway to the EU and the Schengen area, is at the same time a transit country as well as a destination country for victims of human trafficking. A particularly vulnerable group are migrant-refugee children, especially unaccompanied minors; they are exposed to many dangers and networks of criminal activity and often fall victim to various forms of exploitation. Also, people who try to leave Greece for another country face a high level of risk, as they may "disappear" along the way, ending up as victims of human trafficking, or suffering exploitation and / or abuse.

Apart from changes in the institutional and administrative framework, what changes do you think need to be made at the cultural level to combat trafficking?

At the institutional and administrative level, in our opinion, the following actions are imperative:

• enhancing the implementation of the international legal framework.
• strengthening the National Referral Mechanism, the executive arm of the state for the protection of potential victims
• raising awareness and informing the general public about the phenomenon, through relevant information campaigns.
• effective implementation of the national strategy and the relevant National Action Plan (NAP), which now needs to be adapted to address the COVID-19 pandemic, with measures to prevent as well as to reduce the pandemic’s consequences. Cooperation between public and private agencies and between central, regional and local government, can play a crucial role here. We have already agreed upon and announced action plans with the Attica Region -as mentioned above- as well as with the International Organization for Migration.
• Improving victim identification by making services more accessible to victims of trafficking.
• Providing greater access to legal remedies and legal assistance to victims. Proper training in order to better address the specific needs of women and girls, as to support the specific psychosocial needs of minors.

On the cultural level:

• Discouraging demand for products and services that originate from the exploitation of victims of trafficking should become a primary area of ​​intervention.
• Regarding sexual exploitation, the need to introduce inclusive sex education at all levels of formal education is absolutely imperative in order to change the perceptions that perpetuate gender inequality, the tolerance of "rape culture" and exploitation of the vulnerable. We also need to run relevant public awareness campaigns targeted at the wider public.
• As far as labour exploitation is concerned, the consistent application of "due diligence" principles in the procurement system of private enterprises and of course the public sector is crucial in order to ensure that products and services from victims of trafficking are not used.
• We must ensure that psychosocial assistance to potential victims of human trafficking becomes independent of the criminal procedure. In particular, the official identification of a potential victim should be made on the basis of assessment by professionals who are trained to identify evidence of exploitation and trafficking.

In Greece, this legislative provision has been recently implemented for the first time, when the Prosecutor of the Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki officially identified a victim of human trafficking without a case file by the police, but based on expert reports by a psychologist and a social worker. This change will contribute significantly to the prevention and timely protection of potential victims of human trafficking.

*Interview by Ioulia Livaditi

The post Heracles Moskoff, National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings: “We need to fight the culture of impunity” appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

The Plague of Athens (430-426 BCE) stands as a milestone in the development of world historiography; far from being the first case of a widespread or documented epidemic, its particular significance rather stems from the imposing description made by Athenian historian, politician and military general Thucydides (ca 465 BCE-400/395 BCE) in the context of his History of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta (431-404 BCE). Indeed, it is the detailed account of the epidemic outbreak, its physical manifestation onto the bodies of Athenian citizens and its social impact onto the city as a whole that rendered the Plague of Athens a major point of reference for historiographical accounts, but also for disciplines such as medical history or epidemiology in the following centuries. From a rhetorical and analytical standpoint, Thucydides used the Plague of Athens in order to reflect on war and social disintegration - the so-called anomia; the plague is credited with the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War and its geopolitical decline in the following period. Thus, it is not surprising that the semantic registry of the plague would later hold such a particular place in the creative imagination of so many thinkers and writers, most notably in the case of Albert Camus and his work, The Plague.

The plague from the perspective of medical history

The account of Thucydides stands out for its minutious account of the clinical symptomatology of the epidemic that hit Athenians, who at the time were besieged by the Spartans. Thucydides, who would himself fall ill at some point, recounts the main symptoms of the highly-mortal disease, such as high fever, pustular rash, and diarrhea (Littman 2009). According to him, the disease had come from Ethiopia and had progressed through Egypt and Libya; it had first made its appearance in the port of Piraeus and very quickly reached Athens. Contrary to Attica, Sparta and the whole Peloponnese —both sparsely populated— were not struck by the plague. The disease was highly contagious in Athens and raged among medical professionals and those who took care of patients. The impact of the disease was particularly devastating; between 75.000 and 100.000 inhabitants perished (over a population of approximately 300.000 to 400.000, given the influx of rural refugees due to the Spartan siege); Thucydides documents various epidemic outbreaks having occurred as late as 426 BCE (Littman 2009).

Thucydides’ account is a clear testament to the author’s Hippocratic influences. The empirical observation of the progress of the disease, as recounted by Thucydides, was attributed by many researchers —either classicists, philologists, or medical doctors— to the Hippocratic School and the influence of Hippocrates’ work, from a methodological and terminological standpoint (Morgan 1994). It would even be tempting to assume that the two men might have possibly met earlier in Northern Greece (Gervais 1972) or take note of the legend according to which Hippocrates himself briefly tried to heal the epidemic on site, in Athens (Littman 2009). At the same time, on a more general note, the Hippocratic influence could be sought in the overall methodological and narrative choices of Thucydides, which echoed the empiricism of the Hippocratic School; after all, the century of Pericles was also the century of Hippocrates, as pointed out by Alice Gervais (1972). However, Thucydides did not limit himself to a simple reproduction of the Hippocratic precepts on epidemics; rather, he exceeded the theoretical limitations of Hippocratic thought by introducing a radically empirical and thus secular rationality (Jouanna 2001). His lack of purely medical education and his distances in regards to the dominant medical dogmas of the time (which attributed epidemics either to environmental factors or metaphysical causes), allowed him to seize the notion of contagion, which until then had eluded the adherents of Hippocratic medicine and Hippocrates himself as well (Jouanna 2001, Poole and Holladay 1979), a significant discovery that unfortunately was not picked up by specialists in the following centuries (Poole and Holladay 1979); Thucydides also explicitly established the acquisition of immunity by those who had survived the disease (Poole and Holladay 1979). As noted by David Morens, Gregory Folkers, and Anthony Fauci, Thucydides’ account is the first complete clinical-epidemiological description of an infectious disease; the latter took care to distinguish between signs, symptoms, complications, and varied clinical trajectories, while at the same time taking into account the collapse of health services, overcrowded populations in confined spaces, and war. His account would serve as a work of reference for medical students in the west and the middle-east and would deeply influence medical practice regarding infectious diseases until the 19th century (Morens, Folkers and Fauci 2008).

Thucydides refrained from inquiring into the medical cause of the epidemic; the purpose of his account was rather of another order. Nonetheless, the clarity of his observations spurred the interest of modern medical specialists, a great number of whom produced publications and studies on the matter, initially in terms of intellectual exercise but more recently as an object of epidemiological and paleopathological comparative research. Even though J. C. F. Poole and A. J. Holladay noted the heuristic limits of approaches that attempt to classify past epidemics under modern-day categories, given the evolution of microbes and viruses, we can nonetheless enumerate the various hypotheses that have been occasionally suggested in order to explain the outbreak and the specific medical nature of the so-called «plague» —meaning, epidemic— of Athens, based on Thucydides’ descriptions, as well as additional historical knowledge on that era: smallpox, bubonic plague, scarlet fever, measles, typhus fever, typhoid fever, or even ergotism  (Poole and Holladay 1979). J. C. F. Poole and A. J. Holladay consider more probable that the disease has either vanished nowadays or at least transformed to such an extent that it is unrecognizable (Poole and Holladay 1979). Similarly, Robert Littman summarized more recently the different hypotheses that dominated the medical literature of the 20th century; in the very end, three rather valid different hypotheses are retained: smallpox, typhus, or a typhus-like disease (Littman 2009). One should note that, next to these hypotheses built on the observations of Thucydides and complementary historical information, a new innovative methodological perspective came to be added in the 2000s: the analysis of microbial DNA (Littman 2009). Indeed, the discovery in 1994-5 in Kerameikos of an ancient communal grave that dated back to the epidemic, allowed a team of Greek researchers, under the supervision of Professor Manolis Papagrigorakis to apply a few years later DNA microbial analysis on the remains (precisely, the dental pulp) of three persons, who had apparently been buried hastily, in conditions that very much resembled those of the plague; the analysis allowed to conclude that the three persons were vectors of typhoid fever, which in fact could be the cause of the epidemic (Papagrigorakis et al 2006). It should be noted however that this disease could have been endemic and widespread in Athens well before and regardless of the epidemic, while the sample of three skeletons is limited; to this was added a further technical debate within the epidemiological and paleopathological community, which nonetheless considers in its whole the above-mentioned research of a decisive methodological importance (Littman 2009, Anastasiou and Mitchell 2013, Bos et al 2019). Today still, the medical cause of the Plague of Athens is a matter of academic debate.

Beyond medical hypotheses: the narrative of the epidemic as social analysis

Thucydides’ description of the Plague of Athens stands first and foremost as a narrative masterpiece, that aimed to fulfill dramatic purposes (Morgan 1994, Horstmanshoff 1993) and function as an actual political argumentation beyond a mere empirical observation of an epidemic; Thomas Morgan suggests that Thucydides’ aim was to show by way of his crude descriptions the harmful consequences of war, especially through contrasting the description of the plague with Pericles' celebratory discourse which had preceded the disease by a few months and had outlined an idealised city, at the peak of its power, fully able to take care of its dead and its moral laws (contrary to what would ensue); apparently, the dramatic effect of the description of the Plague cannot be dissociated from Pericles’ oration, himself a victim of the plague in 429 BCE (Morgan 1994). Moreover, Herman Horstmanshoff notes that Thucydides wanted to establish a link between the plague and the moral disintegration that ensued by sketching the dramatic and incoherent reactions of Athenian masses. The depiction of disaster and the identification of the epidemic with a total social disorder will appear as a recurring theme in many descriptions of future epidemics; at the same time, it might well reflect the elite social position of Thucydides and his own narrative bias against the Athenian populace and its supposedly inherent weaknesses (1993). In any case, Thucydides was the one to use the term of anomia in order to describe what he foresaw as social disintegration within Athenian society, preceding Emile Durkheim’s concept of anomie by 24 centuries. Donald Nielsen applied retrospectively the durkheimian sociological problematic onto Thucydides’ work and underlined the fact Thucydides possibly used both Pericles’ oration and the horrifying description of the plague in order to show that Athens was in fact already a city in latent crisis and in excess of power and individualism, which was what exactly prevented her from successfully dealing with the epidemic (Nielsen 1996).

There is no doubt that the epidemic itself had an unprecedented impact onto Athenians and cultural production of the time; that is the case in tragedies such as Oedipus Rex, Hippolytus, or even The Trachiniae, where diseases are a recurring and highly charged theme, as noted by Robin Mitchell-Boyask; moreover, it is suggested that theater gradually acquired a civic therapeutic role within a deeply scarred Athenian society, as attested in plays such as Herakles or Philoctetes (2009).

However, Thucydides’ account left its mark through time; most notably, the theme of the plague will be picked up by poets Lucretius, Virgil and Ovid, and later, historians Lucian and Procopius (Morgan 1994). Furthermore, the crude and detached narrative style of Thucydides seems to have set the norm for any description of epidemics through time, as noted by Herman Horstmanshoff in the case of byzantine emperor and historiographer Kantakouzenos, who provided an account of the 1347/8 plague in Byzance; even though the latter lost his son to the epidemic and fell ill himself, he retained a phlegmatic narrative style (1993). Moreover, Alice Gervais has stressed that Thucydides created an archetype —that is the epidemic as a test of the humanity and cohesion of a given society (1972). These two elements —a particular narrative technique and social questioning— are evidently ubiquitous in Albert Camus’ masterpiece, The Plague, a political allegory in the aftermath of WWII. The image of a society that falls prey to the plague, as recounted by a detached narrator, can be directly attributed to the classical influences of Albert Camus, who, when embarking on the preparation of his novel, was already in knowledge of the Plague of Athens and Thucydides through the writings of Lucretius, while later on he had the chance to read Thucydides’ work. As noted by Paul Demont, Albert Camus was actually considering of including in The Plague a professor of Greek and Latin, Philippe Stephan, a character who would thus emphasize the literary and historical antecedents of the Camusian epidemic. The eventual disappearance of Philippe Stephan and of all related classical references from the final version of The Plague might point to an attempt by Albert Camus to break away with the fatalism of classical narratives, in favour of a more determined vision of active and conscious struggle against modern plagues (Demont 1996, 2009).

Dimitris Gkintidis

*Intro painting: Plague in an ancient city (ca 1652) by Michael Sweerts (1618-1664) (Source: Wikimedia Commons/ Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

D.G.

The post The Plague of Athens as told by Thucydides: a timeless analysis of an epidemic appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Katerina Gardikas, associate professor in Modern Greek History, received her degree from the Faculty of History and Archaeology of the University of Athens and her PhD in Modern Greek History from King's College, University of London. She worked as a researcher at the Centre for Modern Greek Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation and taught at the Democritus University of Thrace and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She taught at the University of Athens since 2001 and retired in 2016. Her research interests include the social history of health, spatial history and the history of state building. Her recent book, Landscapes of disease: malaria in modern Greece, was published by Central European University Press in 2018. She is now moving on to her next project on the history of midwifery. Greek News Agenda* had the opportunity to interview Katerina Gardikas on the social history of malaria, its management and eradication in modern Greece, as well as the impact of pandemics on regional and global history.

Your monograph Landscapes of Disease: Malaria in Modern Greece provides an insightful account of the different ways in which malaria interacted with the social realities of modern Greece, which you describe as having once been the most malarious country in Europe. Can you elaborate on the great variety of human responses throughout this period, as well as their interplay with environmental factors and the disease itself?

Greece suffered from malaria more than any other country in Europe; furthermore, it had a greater prevalence of its lethal form, falciparum malaria. Like in Subsaharan Africa today, children under the age of five were particularly vulnerable and died in great numbers. Although malaria was primarily encountered in the countryside, cities also experienced their share of the disease. Draining swamps both to relieve the peasantry from fevers and to reclaim land for agriculture was an ancient practice of proven, yet limited consequence. For instance, Muslim landowners in the Ottoman period would see that their estates were drained from floodwater. In fact, until quinine became available to the Greeks in the nineteenth century, draining was the only effective means of malaria control. The authorities of the Greek state, however, saw drainage primarily as a means of clearing land for agriculture. Ecological responses to malaria besides draining, such as spraying water surfaces with whatever chemicals were recommended by sanitary engineers,  became a practice after malaria transmission was associated with the Anopheles mosquito, i.e. after 1897, in effect in the twentieth century, but were a highly costly measure that was practiced selectively. The vast majority of the Greeks relied on their quinine, which became a very popular means of protection and treatment, largely considered as a citizen’s right.  Its widespread use often made it the subject of extensive adulteration.

As far as the effect of environmental factors on the spread of malaria is concerned, this is an issue that lies at the centre of my recent book. Environmental factors are directly related to the causes that affect the increase and decrease of mosquito populations, as demonstrated by British epidemiologist George Macdonald in the late 1950s. These factors varied greatly throughout Greece on account of the fragmented nature of the country’s geography. Owing to the particular ecological features, different areas were suitable for specific species of Anopheles that were capable of transmitting malaria in all its forms that had been endemic in Greece for millennia, namely vivax, quartan and falciparum malaria. Moreover, malaria was prevalent, not only in the plains and swamps; mountainous areas and islands were by no means free from the disease.

The fragmented nature of the Greek lands produces an extremely variable rainfall regime, a feature that resulted in the unpredictable behaviour of the disease within a year and from one year to the next. As a result, immunity to malaria was not easy to attain except in the most malarious marshlands, where the population suffered continuous and multiple infections. This situation of erratic protection from malaria greatly affected the disease experience of the Greeks. Nonetheless, around 1900, a period when malaria prevalence in Greece was at its peak, one in every three or four Greeks contracted malaria each year.

It was virtually impossible to escape its grip; the peasant was exposed to it in his every daily activity in the field and in the pasture lands. So was the refugee in the camp, the settler in his new town, plane or rail tracks, the merchant in his travels and the soldier on the front or in the barracks. Indeed, the first malaria statistics were compiled by military doctors in the 1880s.

To what degree did Greek scientific personnel participate in the specialized international community that was formed since the 19th century and helped shape the contours of antimalarial struggle?

Most foreign-trained Greek doctors had studied at Italian, French or German medical schools and retained their connections to their respective scientific communities after their return to medical practice in Greece. Furthermore, the first Greek governments were very serious about training medical personnel locally; thus, the first medical school was created in 1835, two years before the establishment of the University of Athens. Medical innovation, however, still entered the country through European medicine, albeit without much delay, particularly in fields such as malariology, which was of prime interest to Greek doctors and society owing to its widespread prevalence. Indeed, when Ronald Ross, the British doctor who had established the connection between malaria and the Anopheles mosquito in the transmission mechanism of malaria, toured the country in 1906 at the invitation of the British Copais Company, he was accompanied by Ioannis Kardamatis, the country’s leading malariologist.

Another source of knowledge transfer in the same field was Italian malariology. Italy, which, like Greece, suffered a severe malaria burden, but, unlike the Greek case, had a long-standing tradition in medicine and also had imperialist aspirations, was a leader in the field. The Greek Society for the Control of Malaria was created in 1905 and modelled on its Italian counterpart. Similarly, in the early twentieth century, different methods of malaria control advanced in Italy became the subject of debate among Greek malariologists. Therefore, Greek physicians became eclectic in their sources of scientific knowledge. By that time, the influence of both Italy and Britain tended to replace that of France in this particular field.

Your monograph retraces different methods in the medical and social management of the disease. How did we finally come to eradicate malaria in Greece and what was the contribution of international cooperation in these endeavors?

Drainage as a means of fever control had been practiced since antiquity. In the early days of Greek statehood, however, drainage was perceived more as a means of reclaiming land for the benefit of agriculture. In fact, quite often large drainage and land reclamation schemes, such as the drainage of lake Copais, left the drained areas with an equally serious malaria problem as before. Furthermore, the widespread planting of eucalyptus trees, a species native to Australia, in places of high human concentration as a “natural” method of malaria control, may be dated to the turn of the century, although it had begun earlier.

At various stages of the country’s state-building process, the contribution of foreign aid and influence was critical. Thus, the initial state sanitary institutions of the 1830s, the ones that first tackled its health problems, were set up by the Bavarian regents and the Greek, foreign-trained physicians who manned these institutions. They were the ones who explored the prevalent diseases and uncovered the widespread nature of malaria. Subsequently, failure to adequately fund sanitary institutions left the health situation of the country, particularly that of infectious diseases and malaria, primarily, in an extremely critical state that was further exacerbated by wars and the frequent influx of refugees. The few responses to this situation originated from the mobilisation of civil society, mostly wealthy Greeks within the country and abroad.

When, however, Greece received more than one million refugees from the Caucasus, Asia Minor and the Pontus in the aftermath of the First World War and the country’s defeat in 1922, the crisis became unmanageable. As, indeed, malaria thrives in such situation, international bodies stepped in to assist also on the malaria front. The most serious impact, however, was that of the League of Nations Health Organisation and the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1930s. The latter, in particular, set up experimental stations throughout the country, studied the disease, inaugurated malaria control modern measures and offered training to young Greek doctors. These interventions may not have solved the country’s malaria problem at the time, but they created the groundwork for the future and paid dividend after World War II.

Malaria control through ecological management was expensive. For instance, Paris Green, a chemical compound that was developed in the mid 1920s by Rockefeller Foundation scientists, needed to be sprayed on water surfaces every two weeks. Therefore, the labour cost made its widespread application a challenge for sanitary authorities. Eventually, it was the use of DDT that was introduced to Greece by the sanitary engineers of UNRRA in 1945, after the end of the German occupation, that provided a cheap and effective means to control the Anopheles. Indeed, in the aftermath of the Second World War, UNRRA’s sanitary section, which was largely staffed by Rockefeller Foundation physicians and engineers, inaugurated a vigorous DDT spraying programme. The spraying of DDT, particularly aerial spraying, helped reduce malaria prevalence to 10% over its first year of application and became immensely popular, despite its high toxicity. The disease was finally eradicated in the mid 1970s after a methodical and sustained strategy of control and surveillance, under the guidance of the World Health Organisation, thanks partly to foreign aid but also thanks to the general prosperity, which Greece was able to achieve in the 1950s and 1960s.

On a wider note, there is an ongoing historiographical debate as to the importance of epidemics in world history. What is your stance on this topic?

My own approach has been very much influenced by William McNeill’s Plagues and Peoples and his concept of disease pool. This concept helps us analyse and understand the connections between infectious diseases on the one hand and communications spheres on the other. In this sense, one may look at the spread of new diseases along the same routes as those traveled by trade, armies, ideas, large and small species. Interestingly, a recent study of the spread of the plague in fourteenth-century Europe suggests that the spread is traceable along the ports on the navigable rivers and canals, that is along the maritime and river trading routes.

After their first encounter with a pathogen and the lethal epidemics it produces, societies go on to build up their immune responses through the mechanisms of natural selection. Thereafter, the new disease gradually becomes less lethal killing ever fewer people and enters the disease pool within the broad geographical range defined by the communications regime of its time. Therefore, as important as epidemics are in world history, they should be historicised in relation to other defining features of entire civilisations. Consequently, the current crisis cannot be understood independently from the broader economic and environmental realities that plague our world today (pardon the pun). The immediate effects of epidemics may be important in significant ways, for instance the demographic depletion of Europe owing to the Black Death impacted subsequent labour relationships; the establishment of quarantine was effective in controlling the spread of epidemics before the introduction  of germ theory; the control of the cholera outbreak contributed to the victory of the Greek army over the Bulgarians in 1913; the instances are countless, not to mention the impact of pathogens affecting other species, for instance the impact of the potato blight on the history of Ireland. However, today, as the survival prospect of humanity reaches a critical balance point, one should not lose sight of the role of pathogens in the broader patterns of historical change.

What would be a historian’s analytical and comparative perspective on the global Covid19 pandemic we are currently going through?

This is the first time in our lifetime that we witness the effective spread of a new and dangerous disease among our globalised society. Clearly, this uniqueness offers an historian an insight into what societies must have experience upon their first encounter with the virulent unknown. Influenza in its various strains is a virus with which humanity has become familiar, particularly after the 1918 pandemic; AIDS has spread more gradually and other dangerous new epidemics, such as ebola, have so far  been contained before reaching the West. For humans, Covid19 is totally new. Some have termed this as the first modern pandemic, and, although this is not exactly true, it certainly has important unique features. What I believe is markedly different from earlier such occasions is the speed of its spread along with the speed and universal nature of the response of humanity. The international community was politically unprepared for the pandemic, despite the fact that the warnings from scientific experts had been issued clearly for several years; there had even been scientific centres dedicated to the study of possible suspect pathogens. Yet, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the northern hemisphere occurred before the scientific community had time to fully understand how the virus functions. Global lack of preparedness, in turn, brought on urgent and abrupt socio-economic government responses, such as lockdowns, with secondary socio-economic consequences of yet unknown severity and hardship.

This is clearly a failure of the political institutions to anticipate and mount an effective defense in advance. Scientific networks and international organisations, however, are currently performing with the speed of the digital age, and to a large degree (with powerful and ominous exceptions), with a sense of community.

Notwithstanding the broader picture, on a micro-historical level, it is interesting to observe the way the disease is experienced by individual social and cultural groups of people, by particular age groups; or the ways we perceive, reward or condemn demonstrations of solidarity or selfishness and antagonism.

On a broader level, we are faced with pending questions for the future: what institutions will the pandemic leave behind; how will it affect the ideas and institutions of global governance; how will societies, states and institutions deal with the widening inequality gap that will result from the pandemic; and, most importantly, will the pandemic make us any wiser with regard to our own lethal ecological impact. Interestingly, the forerunner of the World Health Organisation, the Health Organisation of the League of Nations emerged out of the Epidemics Commission that the League had set up to control the epidemics outbreaks, primarily of typhus, that the large waves of displaced populations triggered  throughout East and Central Europe in the aftermath of the First World War. On the subject of internationalist ideas and global governance, particularly on the way conflicting interests affect the shaping of international institutions Mark Mazower’s, Governing the World is an important work worth reading in these circumstances.

*Interview by Dimitris Gkintidis. 

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In his recent speech at the 21st Economist Roundtable with the Government of Greece on June 28th, minister for Health Andreas Xanthos outlined the government’s twofold healthcare agenda: interventions that relieve those citizens most affected by austerity and the reform of primary healthcare. Stamatis Vardaros, Deputy Secretary General of the ministry of Health, responsible for Primary Healthcare, in an interview to Sunday newspaper “Epohi” (Το σχέδιό μας μεροληπτεί υπέρ του δημόσιου, 3.07.2017), talked about the fundamental objective of the reform, its implementation, the creation of Local Health Units, but also about the reactions to the consultation process.

In terms of interventions to aleviate citizens most affected by the crisis, minister Xanthons pointed out that the most critical so far was changing the institutional framework in order to guarantee free access for all uninsured citizens to public health structures. This change enabled people who lost their insurance capacity due to unemployment, precarious or uninsured work to freely access healthcare, without hurdles and bureaucratic delays. According to the minister, this new law “established the principle that health is a social good that must be provided by the state equally and regardless of people’s work status, insurance or income”. As to the other pillar the government’s healthcare agenda, reforming Primary Healthcare, Xanthos stressed that it will provide a “strategic response to the health system’s crisis and its passive privatization” as well as an answer “to the longtime demand for universal, equal and effective healthcare coverage of the population and a rational distribution of the limited material and personnel resources".

The Bill on Primary Health System Reform is going to be tabled in July to vote in Parliament, and as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Friday, "our immediate aim is to set up 239 local health clinics in 80 different regions of the country by the end of 2017," specifying that the regions were selected based on their healthcare needs and the socio-economic status of the local population. To staff these services, the ministry will announce in the immediate future more than 3,000 jobs for doctors and other healthcare personnel. Rebuilding healthcare will be "a titanic struggle amid very difficult circumstances" the Prime Minister said, adding that the situation in public healthcare was "critical" and "on the verge of collapse" when he took power in 2015. According to Tsipras, the collapse of the health system was "conscious and intentional" founded on the notion that the public character of healthcare is outdated, and in order to open the way for private interests to take over.

Deputy Secretary General of Health Ministry: “Yes, our reform plan is biased in favor of public health services”

Stamatis Vardaros, Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, in his interview for 'Epohi', stressed the the fundamental objective of the reform is that the “health system regains control of healthcare, with the activation of the concept of the family doctor, either through public structures like the Local Health Units (TOMY) or through contracts with freelance doctors. The citizens will have their own health consultant, their family doctor, free of charge, who will navigate them through the rest of the system.” Along with the activation of the family doctor, another major intervention is that the health system will be reoriented towards prevention, awareness and community, where other health professionals besides doctors, such as health visitors, nurses, social workers, will play a crucial role.

During the public consultation on the Bill, Vardaros notes that there were two types of reactions: “from the Left, the criticism was why EU funds were used for this reform. Our answer is that we would obviously want to finance the reform by the state budget. However, we need to take into account the difficult financial situation - I think we are managing a painful compromise, and in the long-run EU funding will be gradually reduced as the state budget increases.

On the other side, you have the critique from the Right that characterizes the Local Health Units as structures akin to Soviet Union institutions. The answer to such criticisms is that public healthcare systems, even quite advanced, were not unique to the Soviet Union, but sexist right now in many are well-developed capitalist states. A prime example of this is the Scandinavian countries, whose healthcare systems are the model for all the progressive forces of Europe.

Furthermore, there has a reaction from part of the medical world, especially the private sector, who sees that through strengthening and developing Primary Healthcare and the National Health  System overall, the private heath sector will lose a significant share of the pie.” Speaking about the private sector’s reaction, Vardaros notes that the ministry accepts the criticism that the reform is biased in favor of public health sector: “It is clear that this is our intention and the mark we want to leave. Our plan clearly aims to compete with the private sector in healthcare. The private sector can have a role that is complementary to the public sector, after the latter has exhausted its resources.”

Vardaros concludes that “I want to make it clear that this is an intervention that has been a part of the Left’s electoral program for 30 years. It is an intervention based on the principles set by the Declaration of Alma-Ata -adopted at the International Conference on Primary Health Care in 1978. The philosophy behind this political project is to strengthen the public healthcare system, ensure equality of access and level of health services for all citizens, and to protect our most vulnerable fellow citizens, a philosophy that is obviously part of a broader Left policy agenda.”

Read more: Greece’s move towards universal health coverage; New primary healthcare system to be based on family doctors and local health units

I.L.

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Professor Ifigeneia Kamtsidou, President of the National Center for Public Adminstration (EKDDA) gave recently an interview to newspaper Epohi (23.04) on the Greek goverments' plans for public admininstration and the welfare state. Kamtsidou points out that even if creditors are trying to impose failed policies of neo-liberal orthodoxy, it is possible to develop a parallel program that could reorganize the primary sector and diversify the country´s productive model, thus creating conditions for rebuilding social institutions. She argues that even though the social policies the goverment implements right now are designed to basically help those who are in extreme poverty, one of the main goals that the government must set and pursue is to regenerate the welfare state for the whole society. 

Ifigeneia Kamtsidou believes that the Greek state is not overgrown, on the contrary, many agencies are understaffed. However, it indeed has been wasteful and mismanaged in some cases, and that is why the rational reorganization of services across the public sector is a very important step, and one the governement is already implementing in the case of healthcare services. Another example is the law passed for the establishement of a decentralized, integrated system for citizen communication with the administration. Finally, Kamtsidou heralds the National School of Public Administration and Local Government (ESDDA) as a flaghsip of this effort to re-organize the public sector, because its graduates are public officers who can effectively manage public affairs and also possess a wider understanding of the importance of state-citizen relations.

Read below excerpts from the interview*: 

We do not know yet the outcome of the negotiations between Greece and the creditors. Could you comment?

Evaluating the negotiations between Greece and the international creditors has been and remains an extremely difficult process, as on the one hand, the creditors are trying to impose failed policies of neo-liberal orthodoxy, and on the other hand the government and the people are trying to defend the welfare state and the rule of law, the possibility of democratic governance of the country. It is very difficult for the government to enforce its own policies in the context of the impending agreement.  Economic relations are globalized, and hence cannot be controlled by a national government; furthermore, Greece is particularly dependent on financial aid. This, of course, does not preclude in principle, the development of a parallel program that would reorganize, for example, the primary sector, diversifying the productive model and creating conditions for rebuilding social institutions.

How about tackling the Greek people’s biggest problems, such as unemployment, disposable income, education, health? Has that possibility opened up?

Experience shows that reliable and rational management of public finances allows for the development of social policies that counterbalance austerity measures, and could also form a base for rebuilding social welfare. If there is a rationalization of finances, if we effectively use European funds, if corruption is eradicated, welfare state institutions can be regenerated and thus large categories of population that have suffered drastic reductions in their income could regain access to health, social security, education, etc.

SYRIZA was called upon to rule without any government experience and under the pressure of very tough negotiations, so governance in the first few months had some gaps or failures. However, today, two years after the government took office, government officials have gained experience, and SYRIZA has become fully fledged a ruling party.

The criticism it receives for the policies it enforces is partly justified: policies of a minimal welfare state are what is being implemented at the time: that is, policies that help only those who are in extreme poverty. The welfare state, however, has a broader mission: it takes care of society as a whole and designs policies to redistribute wealth. This is one of the main goals that the government must set and pursue.

Let's look at the government's work on Public Administration. What has changed?

It would not be safe to carry out an evaluation of the effectiveness of public services during the last two years, when there were dramatic events, we had three elections, and the country was at risk of fiscal suffocation. It is, however, necessary with the conclusion of the negotiations that reforms in the public sector become a priority. For, although some legislative initiatives have been completed, such as the one for filling public sector positions of responsibility, they have not been implemented and thus have not produced any results in the administrative structure.

This delay is due first of all to inertia within administrative mechanisms and secondly, any reform must be adopted by the people it concerns. It is not so simple for a heterogeneous body of 500,000 civil servants to embrace the necessity of change without hesitation, especially when it deals with deeply rooted problems. However I believe that with SYRIZA in government, its tradition of protecting rights and respecting each individual's value has influenced the attitude and practices of Public Administration, turning it more citizen-friendly.

How true is the critique from the right that the Greek state is big, wasteful etc?

Comparison with other European countries shows that criticism of an overgrown state is a myth. On the contrary, there are several agencies that are understaffed. Moreover, we must not forget the specificity of our island country, with some very poor regions, where, without state intervention, any development would be impossible. The study of the Greek state shows the following: public administration has indeed been wasteful, and there were few cases of mismanagement. In the past two years, efforts have been made to reform important public services such as healthcare. The rational reorganization of services across the public sector is a first and very important step.

The government should create structures that either protect social rights or grant access to basic goods to all members of society. This means that ministers should not simply legislate measures, but also implement mechanisms to ensure better citizen service. For example, law 4369/16 foresees a decentralized, integrated system for citizen communication with the administration. According to this law, a department for the reception of complaints, suggestions and opinions of the citizens would be established in each ministry. This decentralized structure, to which the citizens will have free, unobstructed and easy access will be coordinated by the Public Administration Observatory, which will operate within the National Center for Public Administration. 

You are the President of National Center for Public Administration, the supervising agency for the National School of Public Administration. It is an institution with a long history. What are your conclusions?

The National Center for Public Administration, where the School of Public Administration belongs, is the strategic human resources development organization for the public sector. It has two major educational activities: on the one hand, the production of fast-track executives, on the other hand the training of all employees. Its mission is also to carry out studies to support public policies. Finally, innovative workshops provide the opportunity for a structured and open dialogue among Public Administration officials, political leadership, and representatives of social actors. The School must be the flagship not only of the National Center, but of the whole of Public Administration. Because the graduates of the School are the public officers who can effectively manage public affairs, but also possess a wider understanding of the importance state-citizen relations. This is the big bet for the School and the Center: we want the executives to be trained in the next academic years to be the carriers of a new concept for the administration, as a protector of citizens’ rights and the common good.

* Translated by Ioulia Livaditi / The excerpts have been edited for cleared understanding by an English-speaking audience

Read more: Fact sheet: Reforming the Greek public sector

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The Social Solidarity Income (SSI or KEA from its Greek initials: Κοινωνικό Εισόδημα Αλληλεγγύης) is a welfare programme just launched by the Μinistry of Labor and Social Solidarity and aimed at providing a safety net to households living under extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is defined as income below a certain threshold (for example, 1.200 euro for one person or 2.400 euro for a 4-member family - in total during the previous six months) and assets below a certain value. The program is based on three pillars: a) income support, b) connection with social integration services, and c) connection with activation services aimed towards the integration or reintegration of beneficiaries into the labor market.

In the pilot phase of the program, which started in July and ended in December 2016, 30 municipalities were selected and the SSI was given out to an estimated 48,000 beneficiaries, 50% of which had zero income. The second phase of the program that begins this January, will include 325 municipalities throughout Greece and is doted with a budget of 760 million euro.  The project will provide benefits in the form of cash and services to beneficiaries, as well as assistance for the reintegration in working and social life. Some of the social services that can be combined with the cash payments are, indicatively: Free medical care for the uninsured; provision of school meals; referral to social care and support services; inclusion in programs of the Social Poverty Response Structures; inclusion in programs implemented under the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD); cheaper electricity, water and municipal utilities bills; priority placement in child care centers.

As far as the so-called “activation” services are concerned, they are aimed specifically at the unemployed beneficiaries. In order for the beneficiaries to remain active and not be limited this small amount of economic help, a 10% of unemployed beneficiaries that are able to work, will be included in programs for combating unemployment and other specialized programs. These include, inter alia: community service programs; vocational training programs; acquisition of work experience programs; and for those who have not completed high school, studying in a “second opportunity” school for adults. A big problem that the program is trying to combat is undeclared work, and this is why all unemployed beneficiaries are required to register with OAED (Greek Public Employment Agency), and to visit the Community Centers every month to report on their activities.

The application to be included in the program is a done via the electronic platform https://keaprogram.gr, which is connected electronically to Taxis (the taxation information system), Ergani (the database for all salaried workers), Helios (the integrated system for all benefits and pensions) and is approved or not automatically.

During the programme’s roll out, Community Centers will play a key role. Community Centers will be operate as “one-stop shops” for a wide of social services,  in collaboration with the Directorate of Social Services of each municipality. As far the SSI is concerned, the Community Centers will to map the needs of citizens, direct them to the benefits they are entitled to and to network them with businesses that need staff.

A basic social safety net for the most vulnerable

Attempts to introduce similar welfare programmes  (Guaranteed Minimum Income - GMI policies) as a basic social safety net for the most vulnerable sectors of society in Greece have been made before. In 2000, the centre-left government led by Pasok assessed and then rejected a proposal in favour of this option. Syriza also tabled a legislative proposal to institute a GMI in 2005, without success. In recent times, the GMI had rarely appeared in policy debates, encountering resistance from many quarters. Some trade unions and left-wing critics see the GMI as a threat to well established social protection mechanisms for unionised workers, pensioners and their families. From the right, a pro-poor agenda struggled to gain any prominence until the recent economic crisis brought about by the austerity measures of previous bailouts.

The previous coalition government, led by the centre-right party New Democracy in alliance with centre-left Pasok, feebly endorsed a GMI and launched a pilot in November 2014, engineered by the World Bank. The pilot was implemented in 13 municipalities across Greece

The adjustment programme, agreed to between Greece and international creditors in August 2015, included plans for a national roll-out of a GMI. The GMI is not an unconditional basic income for all citizens, but would be the first universal means-tested grant that covers all Greeks below a certain level of income and asset ownership, regardless of employment status, job contract type, professional category, gender or age. The final memorandum approved by the Greek parliament provided for a national roll-out of the GMI by end of 2016, financed by 0.5% of GDP.

Many EU countries (e.g. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden) have robust GMI programmes. Most programmes combine cash payments as well as payments in kind, such as free medical care in Cyprus. Commonly, each country requires that applicants have a minimum number of years of legal residency in order to benefit.  

See also: Greece is the only EU country without guaranteed minimum income, report finds (2014); GREECE: Government to roll out a Guaranteed Minimum Income scheme (2015); Third Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece (2015-6)

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Eirini Agathopoulou is a pharmacist, former Member of Parliament with SYRIZA (2012-2015) and Chairwoman of the Board of the Research Centre for Gender Equality (2015-present).

The Research Centre for Gender Equality (KETHI) was founded in 1994, with a focus on conducting social research on gender equality and using these results to propose and implement specific policies and practices. During its 20 years of operation, KETHI has conducted more than 70 original research studies (on issues like work, education, participation of women in decision-making centers, media representation, violence against women, etc), issued more than 120 publications (surveys, best practices guides, manuals for employment, social inclusion, political participation etc.) and has implemented more than 100 action programs, either as a coordinator or as partner institution (development of women's cooperatives, providing free counseling support services, empowering women to participate in policy-making structures etc.)

Eirini Agathopoulou spoke to Greek News Agenda* on KETHI's research project on equality in the workplace, its programmes for training teachers on gender issues and for combating gender-based violence and finally, the biggest challenges that women living in Greece face today.

What are, in your opinion, the most significant changes in women´s rights in Greece since the restitution of democracy in 1974?

In recent years, Greek legislation has made significant strides towards gender equality. All these legal reforms are of serious value as they strengthen the scope of protection of women's rights and contribute to eliminating inequalities in many areas. However, if Ι had to pick one change standing out in the aftermath of the restitution of democracy, it would be the 1983 Family Law. I believe it is an important milestone in the history of women´s rights and gender equality policies in our country. This is essentially the law that abolished the concept of patriarchal family –where the husband was legally considered the ´head´ of the household– and replaced it with equality in family relations. Despite the fact that by now several points of this Law require amendment or additions, at the time it constituted a very progressive legal tool that essentially modernized Greek Family Law, adapting it to the constitutional requirement of gender equality. Other than that, among the very important legislative initiatives were: the introduction of the concept of 'positive discrimination' (eg quotas) in Article 116 of the Constitution, which states that "taking positive measures to promote equality between men and women does not consist gender discrimination"; the enactment of law 3500/2006 dealing with domestic violence; the Law implementing the principle of equal treatment of men and women in the workplace, and more.

One of the current programmes run by KETHI focuses on gender equality in the workplace. What policies do you think would contribute in reconciling work and family responsibilities for women and in promoting equal treatment of women in the workplace?

This programme focuses on the reconciliation of work and family life for workers in Greek industry. The survey results, which will be published soon, already look very interesting as they relate to a sector of the Greek economy that has been particularly affected by the economic crisis. These results will be used to formulate concrete policy proposals when the programme is completed. However, I can tell you that the issue of reconciling professional with family life should not concern women alone. Whilst we immediately think of women when we talk about reconciling work with family -because women shoulder the bulk of the burden of household tasks and child rearing- it is very important to change our culture, something which has already begun, so that we have an equitable division of household and family responsibilities between the sexes. At the same time, in order to facilitate work and family balance, it is necessary to have public infrastructure and services such as child care available to all, to convince employers to implement family-friendly policies, to allow teleworking or flexible working hours that benefit employees -rather than employers, as is the case today- raising the very low levels of these work arrangement in Greece, to ensure the protection of maternity and employment rights, etc.

You are a pharmacist by profession and you were a part of the health division of SYRIZA. Could you talk to us about how the current crisis has affected women’s health?

The economic crisis that has struck Greece since 2009 has evolved into a humanitarian crisis in recent years, with serious consequences for the entire population.  More so than anyone, however, those most affected are the socially vulnerable groups, like the unemployed (uninsured) population, and low income workers and pensioners. From this, one can easily understand that women are affected to a greater extent, since they have the highest rate in unemployment, as well as in insecure, low-paid and part-time jobs. Moreover, benefits that women used to have, like free medicines during pregnancy, are no longer provided. Apart from the effects that this could have on pregnant women’s health, if they cannot have their medicines, is also deterrent for pregnancy. You can appreciate that it is very hard for such choices to be determined by economic factors.

However, it is very important to note that in 2016 significant steps have been taken to reverse this situation, such as the Free Access of the Uninsured to the Public Health System, and more recently the free digital mammogram for women over the age of 40. We hope that other such steps will follow.

Achieving gender equality is not only a matter of legislation but of education as well. What results do you expect from KETHI´s programme to train preschool and primary education teachers on gender issues and gender discrimination?

Educating people is precisely our goal in implementing this programme. First and foremost, teachers must be trained on gender issues, so as to be able to pass the message along to students. You know, patriarchal stereotypes are so deeply imbued in our society that each one of us commits daily to errors perpetuating these stereotypes, albeit unwillingly. It is therefore very important that people who undertake the education of our children are aware of and sensitive to gender issues, as well as issues such like sexual orientation and gender identity, so that they can transmit this knowledge to their students. Such programmes are realized on a regular basis and our objective is to reach even the most remote corner of Greece, up to the last village.

Gender-based violence is one of the major focuses of KETHI. Do you think there is enough information and assistance to women dealing with this in Greece? Could you give us an assessment of the work of Counseling Centres providing support to women victims of gender violence thus far?

From our experience in KETHI, it is clear is that gender violence is all around us, but very few dare to talk about it. The first objective, therefore, is to break the silence and talk about it, to inform without taboo both men and women and encourage them to speak out. We still have much work ahead of us, considering that Counseling Centres for gender violence only began operating in 2012. Nevertheless, the number of women who come to these Centres is constantly growing, and an interesting factor resulting from statistics is that women victims of gender violence come from all social, economic and educational levels. So we could say that although gender violence has a definite gender dimension, it doesn´t have a class dimension.

In the new financial period 2014-2020, Counseling Centres and Shelters are evolving and enlarging their scope, opening their doors to women refugees, while also providing an additional service, that of occupational counseling. Economic independence is an important factor that facilitates the decision-making capabilities of women who want to leave a violent environment, a violent partner or father, and start a new life.

Which would you say are the more serious problems Greek women face today? On the whole, how do you think Greece fares on gender equality issues in comparison to the rest of Europe?

Greece, as I mentioned earlier, has made significant progress in terms of policy and legislation. Furthermore, in the last decade, many programmes promoting gender equality were implemented, and this has definitely contributed to raising relevant awareness. However, there are still many challenges and gender inequalities in Greek society, which seem to be reinforced by the economic and social crisis we are experiencing. In particular, as has been shown by the work of Counseling Centres, violence against women continues to exist, the gender gap in wages is higher than the EU average, and women -despite the decrease in the gap between male and female unemployment due to the increase of male unemployment- still record higher rates of long-term unemployment and are over-represented in almost all socially vulnerable groups. Moreover, the issue of refugees in our country represents a major challenge as regards gender equality, taking into account that women refugees constitute a large percentage of this population; after their displacement, they become even more marginalized and vulnerable and face particular challenges in relation to men refugees. Finally, there is still significant resistance in Greek society to the efforts strengthening gender equality. The resistances are derived from strong stereotypes that still exist and which we are working hard to reverse.

Read more: Government | Policy: Maria Karamessini on tackling unemployment in Greece

*Interview by Ioulia Livaditi

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The Euro-Mediterranean Summit of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions that took place on 24 and 25 October in Vravrona, near Athens, gathered together Economic and Social Councils, representatives of employers' organizations, trade unions and NGOs from more than 30 countries to discuss their role in addressing the specific challenges facing the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The Summit was organized by European Economic and Social Committee and the Greek Economic and Social Council with the aim to promote a greater understanding of the main issues affecting organized civil society in the Euro-Mediterranean region and to enhance interregional dialogue. This year, the Summit focused on the following topics: Promotion of legal migration; women participation in labour force and women's entrepreneurship; organized civil society and climate change in the view of the COP22 and the coordination of social protection systems.

"In order not to treat only the symptoms of the problems, it is essential for the cooperation between the EU and the southern Mediterranean countries to be based on a true collaboration, one of equals, which include organised civil society effectively" said Georges Dassis, EESC President in his introductory statement.

 "The role of social partners and councils in promoting the acquis communautaire is of paramount importance", declared Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on opening the conference. The Prime Minister also underlined that Europe's cohesion will be judged by its ability to face with solidarity and effectiveness the three parallel crises unfolding right now; the economic crisis, refugee crisis and the external and internal security crisis,  adding that "a Europe à la carte, that some of our partners unfortunately support, in reality means 'non-Europe'". 

The meeting concluded with the adoption of a common Final Declaration, which underlines Euro-Mediterranean civil society’s commitment to the promotion of legal migration, social protection, the enhancement of women entrepreneurship and the inclusion of civil society organizations in the creation and implementation of politics on climate change and in the European neighborhood policy.

Specifically on the issue of social security and coordination of social security systems, the participants underline that the global economic crisis of recent years has made more urgent the need for social protection in times of economic uncertainty, low growth and growing inequalities. Furthermore they emphasise that in view of growing labour mobility, efforts and commitments in the area of social security coordination are required in order to safeguard the entitlements of migrant workers from southern Mediterranean countries who might work for a period of time in the EU and to protect EU nationals in their work outside the EU; highlight that the promotion of social protection together with inclusion and the fight against poverty are among the areas of action and objectives to be developed by the European Union within the framework of the ILO.

Greek Economic and Social Committee - Reforms needed to re-launch Greek competitiveness

Earlier this month (03.10) a conference organized by the Greek Economic and Social Committee (OKE) with the EU2020 Steering Committee -in collaboration with the EESC- titled “Reforms needed to re-launch the Greek competitiveness” took place in Athens. The conference, an initiative of the Greek ESC President George Vernicos, focused on  reinforcing the Europe 2020 strategy and giving civil society a stronger role in said strategy. The conference, which gathered together members of the EESC and OKE, alongside representatives from the government, the social partners and the civil society, provided a unique opportunity for consultation regarding the socioeconomic reforms that Greece needs to carry out: the need for a new business environment and the social aspects of competitiveness, with a focus on employment, social security and the status of social services.

The EESC president Georges Dassis stressed the importance of the social dialogue between the stakeholders, noting that it is paramount to find common ground in a number of priorities in order to further promote the ongoing reforms. Moreover, he stated that Europe 2020 is an essential tool for all the citizens but especially for the young people that needs to be re-launched and offer programs such as the vocational and professional training. Finally, president Dassis referred specifically to the initiatives taken by the EESC in response to the economic crisis, amongst them its Opinion on the mutualisation of public debt.

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The Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) has published the results of its latest research project called LOMIGRAS : “Mainstreaming and Monitoring Immigrants Integration in Local Government in Greece”, which was carried out with the aim to investigate local government involvement in the process of migrant integration and the context in which it promotes, or conversely, hinders their integration. The project’s duration was 12 months (2015-2016) and it was funded by the "Diversity, inequalities and social inclusion" programme of the EEA Financial Mechanism 2009-2014, operated by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology of Greece. The report, which was published in July 2016, reviewed the relevant literature on the role of local government in migrant integration in Europe, examining the case of Greece. On the basis of this review, it developed an analytical framework for the study of migration policies in local government, and a framework for the assessment of the relevant measures and policies that municipalities adopt with the goal of promoting the integration of migrants.

More specifically, it underlined the severity of the issue of migrant integration for social cohesion and economic growth in host countries, a principle that was included in the policy agenda of the EU since 2000. Understanding the importance of the role and practices of local administration in the execution of any migrant integration policy is of paramount importance, the study notes, because local and municipal authorities are responsible for the execution of nationally set policies, the providers of social services in the areas of health, education, social and child care and the solidity of the social infrastructure of cities where many ethnic and migrant communities live.  But their involvement goes a step further, through their role in devising their own immigrant integration strategies and sometimes by setting examples of best practices in the field.

Nevertheless, the problem of migrant integration is posing a number of challenges to local governments and services, given the discrepancies in the demographics and special concentration of immigrants across Europe. It all comes down to the ability and potential of local governments to manage multi-ethnic diversity and promote integration, but the extent to which these efforts are effective is an issue that has not received the attention deserved in academic and policy-related research in Greece and in Europe, the report finds.

With regard to the Greek case, the report provides an overview discussing the role of municipalities in formulating and implementing policies that have been shaped at national level, which in some cases is found to be growing steadily over the past ten years.  The research group studied policies and practices implemented by the four largest municipalities of the country (Athens, Thessaloniki, Herakleion and Patras) where it is estimated that half of the legal migrant population in Greece is currently living (548.759 in total), with the largest ethnic group being Albanian, followed by Philippino, Ukrainian, Russian, Georgian, Moldovan, Chinese, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Syrian. 

It is worth mentioning that the research focused in the integration process of migrants that have been arriving in Greece in the late ‘80s and mainly during the 90’s and has not touched upon the current refugee and migration issue. It has collected and analyzed the current legal framework, the quantitative data provided by the Ministry of the Interior and its Decentralized Administrations as well as the data from the administrative authorities of the four municipalities and has also conducted interviews with representatives of local representatives, employees, NGOs and migrant associations. Finally, within the project framework, a technological interactive tool was developed so as to facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of the inclusion of migrants at a local level, which can ultimately be adopted by local authorities, NGOs and  interested parties.

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In an interview with Athens-Macedonian News Agency (14.8, in Greek) the minister of Labour, Social Security and Social Solidarity, Giorgos Katrougalos underlined that "there is a European model for labour relations: this is the model we propose and not the model the IMF proposes." Minister Katrougalos said that in the upcoming September negotiations with the institutions on labour relations, Greece will hold a hard line in order to reverse the current deregulation of the domestic labour market. The minister said that the IMF views and proposals are extremely neo-liberal, in contrast with the European social model and will therefore be isolated, just as it happened during the negotiations on social security reforms.

 “What we ask for is a reversal of the deregulation process and a return to collective bargaining. The minimum wage is something that has to be negotiated between social partners. Just on this proposal -which is not on the defensive, it is on the offensive- I asked for the consent of the social partners, those who sign the National General Collective Labour Agreement, and I got it. We therefore have a united social front with the employers’ associations and workers’ unions.”

The vast majority of pensioners will not see any changes to their pensions as of September, the minister said, responding to criticism by political parties that pensioners are in for a shock due to the 6% deduction from supplementary pensions for healthcare contributions. Minister Katrougalos clarified that this deduction always existed, but now it is applied in a more equitable and efficient manner that will help many, including those who receive only one basic pension.

On the issue of unemployment, minister Katrougalos noted that figures register a decrease of 2.1% over the last two years, while a recent OECD report shows that this trend will continue because of the Greek economy's growth prospects. The minister concluded that we have entered a phase that shows that the economy is starting to recover and the real wager is that growth is fair for all.

Collective Bargaining and the 3^rd Memorandum

Collective bargaining is a key means through which employers and their organizations and trade unions can establish fair wages and working conditions. Against the background of a deep economic crisis in Europe, wide-ranging labour market changes are radically transforming collective bargaining in a number of EU member states, including Greece and Germany. Before the crisis, Greece had a comprehensive collective bargaining system with strong multi-employer bargaining at national, industry and occupational level, along with collective bargaining coverage of around 80%. This structure was fundamentally changed by the legislation introduced since the start of the crisis and the IMF and EU financial bail-outs: the coverage of collective bargaining in the country has fallen sharply, particularly as agreements expire and are not replaced.

According to the third Memorandum, from August 2015 onwards, Greek collective bargaining would be evaluated by an international comittee of independent experts and representatives from international organisations – including the institutions of the Troika, but also the International Labour Organisation (ILO). On this basis, further reforms of the Greek bargaining system should be decided in light of “best practices” in Europe. The Greek government elected in September 2015, has promised action with the intention of reviving collective bargaining.

Read more:

• European Trade Union Institute (ETUT): The meaning of extension for the stability of collective bargaining in Europe (June 2016)

• European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union: Evolution of Collective Bargaining in Troika Programme and Post-Programme Member States (February 2016)

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