PIGS and Pearls: State of Economic Emergency, Right to Resistance and Constitutional Review in the Context of the Eurozone Crisis
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Andreas Dimopoulos
Lecturer at Brunel University Law School
Abstract
Taking the financial crisis in Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain, (commonly referred to with the derogatory acronym PIGS), as backdrop to this analysis, the article claims that institutional design in Europe (focusing on Greece and Portugal in particular) has not addressed the state of economic emergency. This gap in institutional design, together with the unpopularity of emergency austerity measures, raises serious doubts concerning their legitimacy and constitutionality.
The article analyses two theoretical responses to this grey area of constitutional legality: the first one construes social unrest in Greece against austerity measures as a legitimate exercise of the right to resistance, entrenched in Art 120 of the Greek Constitution.
The second response selected for analysis is the constitutional review of austerity measures by the Portuguese Constitutional Court, which is presented as a robust example of successful constitutional review.
The article argues that constitutional review with regards to emergency financial measures oscillates between strict adherence to the rule of law and deference to legislative authority in a time of economic crisis, thus raising serious doubts as to its efficiency and persuasiveness. States of economic emergency should be addressed as an urgent matter of institutional design.
About the author
Lecturer at Brunel University Law School
© 2017 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Table of Contents
- Articles
- Torture in US Jails and Prisons: An Analysis of Solitary Confinement Under International Law
- Social Rights Against the Poor
- Aid Conditionality as (Partial) Answer to Antigay Legislation: An Analysis of British and American Foreign Aid Policies Designed to Protect Sexual Minorities
- Notes
- PIGS and Pearls: State of Economic Emergency, Right to Resistance and Constitutional Review in the Context of the Eurozone Crisis
- The Greek Financial Crisis and the voluntary conferral of jurisdiction to the ECJ in the light of state immunity
- Developments Austria
- Absence of an oral hearing before the Independent Administrative Panel
- Legislation prohibiting the Austrian Broadcasting Cooperation from acting in social networks violates Article 10 ECHR
- DNA Analysis for Identification Purposes: Legal Basis unconstitutional
- Developments CEE
- Hungarian Constitutional Court: The mandatory retirement of judges
- Slovak Constitutional Court: Deprivation of Legal Capacity due to Mental Illness – a legacy of the past?
- Book Reviews
- Hans-W Micklitz / Bruno De Witte (eds): The European Court of Justice and the Autonomy of Member States, Intersentia, 2012, ISBN 978-1-78068-113- 9, 402 pp.
Articles in the same Issue
- Table of Contents
- Articles
- Torture in US Jails and Prisons: An Analysis of Solitary Confinement Under International Law
- Social Rights Against the Poor
- Aid Conditionality as (Partial) Answer to Antigay Legislation: An Analysis of British and American Foreign Aid Policies Designed to Protect Sexual Minorities
- Notes
- PIGS and Pearls: State of Economic Emergency, Right to Resistance and Constitutional Review in the Context of the Eurozone Crisis
- The Greek Financial Crisis and the voluntary conferral of jurisdiction to the ECJ in the light of state immunity
- Developments Austria
- Absence of an oral hearing before the Independent Administrative Panel
- Legislation prohibiting the Austrian Broadcasting Cooperation from acting in social networks violates Article 10 ECHR
- DNA Analysis for Identification Purposes: Legal Basis unconstitutional
- Developments CEE
- Hungarian Constitutional Court: The mandatory retirement of judges
- Slovak Constitutional Court: Deprivation of Legal Capacity due to Mental Illness – a legacy of the past?
- Book Reviews
- Hans-W Micklitz / Bruno De Witte (eds): The European Court of Justice and the Autonomy of Member States, Intersentia, 2012, ISBN 978-1-78068-113- 9, 402 pp.
