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Discussing EU Policies and Mechanisms towards the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis: A Case Study of Greece

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  • Nikolaos Apostolopoulos

    (Department of Management Science and Technology, University of Peloponnese, 22100 Tripoli, Greece)

  • Marios Psychalis

    (Department of Economics and Business, Neapolis University Pafos, Pafos 8010, Cyprus)

  • Panagiotis Liargovas

    (Department of Management Science and Technology, University of Peloponnese, 22100 Tripoli, Greece)

Abstract

This paper discusses the effectiveness of EU economic measures towards the pandemic crisis in the case of Greece. As the pandemic crisis was an exogenous and symmetric crisis, EU member states decided to take supply and demand side measures to tackle economic recession. Not only the Recovery plan for Europe (NGEU), but also the Escape Clause, as well as non-standard monetary measures, were implemented in order to achieve growth. Furthermore, fiscal expansion, as well as common debt extraction, using green and social bonds led to higher government spending and sovereign debt. The paper’s research question is “Could fiscal expansion mitigate the economic consequences of pandemic crisis?” In other worlds, the research gap which this paper tries to fill is that for the contemporary EU response to two different crises, the economic and the pandemic. Our analysis, by using a comparative approach, shows that government spending and fiscal expansion is effective in the short-run, as the temporary measures led to higher GDP growth rates and lower unemployment rates, but in the long-run demand side measures led to higher inflation and higher sovereign debt.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikolaos Apostolopoulos & Marios Psychalis & Panagiotis Liargovas, 2022. "Discussing EU Policies and Mechanisms towards the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis: A Case Study of Greece," World, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-11, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jworld:v:3:y:2022:i:4:p:43-782:d:931049
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