Socio-Economic Pressure Groups in Greece and Enlargement: the Case of the Confederation of Greek Industrialists (SEV)

Blavoukos, Spyros (2002) Socio-Economic Pressure Groups in Greece and Enlargement: the Case of the Confederation of Greek Industrialists (SEV). In: UNSPECIFIED, Florence, Italy.

Preview

PDF Download (100Kb) | Preview

Abstract

[From the Introduction]. The paper has a two-tier structure. The starting point is the presentation of the overall economic environment in the 1990s and the examination of the economic implications of enlargement for Greece. This qualitative cost-benefit analysis is restricted to the impact of the opening up of the Eastern markets on the Greek production base without considering any potential financial losses from the support framework of the EU. The underlying assumption, which is based on the literature of economic internationalisation and liberalisation, is that changes in the economic terms of interaction at the international level will trigger shifts in the prosperity of specific economic groups and will prescribe the position of these groups to the international agreements responsible for these changes (Milner and Keohane, 1996). Hence, it is imperative to examine the economic impact of enlargement on the different Greek productive forces in order to be able to articulate hypotheses about the expected reactions of the main population groups mainly affected by the prospects of enlargement. This analysis is based on secondary academic sources about the economic impact of enlargement on Greece juxtaposed to the official position of SEV. The second tier of analysis is the actual capacity of any of these socio-economic groups, in particular SEV, to have a significant contribution to the enlargement policy-making. In other words, the extent and mode of participation of pressure groups in the Greek policy-making in general and more specifically in enlargement needs to be examined.

Actions (login required)