Maria Tsampra

Atypical employment in crisis-hit Greek regions: Local production structures, flexibilization and labour market re/deregulation:

The article addresses the shifting patterns of atypical employment across the regions of Greece, severely hit by the 2009 crisis. Changes are depicted by NUTS-II level data for the pre- and post-crisis periods of 2005–2009 and 2009–2011. A regional categorization is suggested, as different forms of atypical employment, namely part-time, temporary, solo self-employment and family work, have expanded unevenly across space. The authors argue that different patterns are related to regional specialization and industrial structures differently affected by the crisis. Established forms of atypical employment have been shaken, while new highly precarious ones have been boosted. Moreover, regulatory reforms for higher labour flexibilization have also defined the emergent atypical employment patterns in Greece. The article points out that in the Greek labour market, already marked by high flexibility and poor job security and social benefits, recent regulatory reforms increasing flexibilization have deteriorated labour and devalued atypical employment.

Agricultural Policy and the Environment Protection through the Eyes of New Farmers: Evidence from a Country of Southeast Europe

Abstract European Unions’ current Common Agricultural Policy has been moved from subsidising agricultural products to direct payments to farmers. These payments depend, among others, on whether farmers fulfill their obligations in managing their production in a sustainable manner, protecting the environment, ensuring public health, plant health, animal health and welfare. Thus, farmers have to accept this role; to protect the environment in order to acquire subsidies. Even more, European Unions’ surveys reveal that Europeans generally believe that it is a main responsibility of farmers to protect the environment. On the other hand there is a decline in farmers, forcing European Union to establish different policy measures and motives for new entrants in agriculture. Such measures support new farmers’ initial establishment and the structural adjustment of their holding afterwards. This paper attempts to identify Greek new (young) farmers’ perceptions about their role as environmental protectors. For this reason a questionnaire was developed and distributed among young farmers participating in the measure 112 ‘Setting up of young farmers’ (Common Agricultural Policy, Pillar II). The survey took place in Central Macedonia in Greece during an educational course series designed for new farmers. In total 254 new farmers answered questions concerning both environmental and cultivation practices.

Labor Reforms in SEE Countries and Recovering from the Crisis

Abstract Since 2009, South Eastern European states are confronted with the most dramatic recession throughout Europe. As the 2008 global financial crisis turned to sovereign debt crisis in the EU, the vulnerable economies of the SEE periphery became recipients of IMF loans (granted to a total of sixteen European countries) to tackle the impact of the downturn. In the Balkan region, Greece – a member of the Eurozone - has been receiving financial support from the IMF/EC/ECB troika since May 2010; Serbia and Romania have also borrowed from the IMF; while Bulgaria, also as vulnerable but poorer than Romania, postponed such a deal due to its smaller budget deficit. The loans - either by the IMF or in collaboration with European institutions - were granted under conditional terms of austerity and structural adjustment policies, which imposed public expenditures cuts, anti-protectionism reforms, more labor market flexibilization and national assets’ privatization. Those conditional policies of restructuring towards liberalization ‘promised’ more FDI-favorable conditions, higher employability and thus, growth. However, the suppression of welfare and social security expenditures, the reduction of public and private sector wages, and the promoted labor market reforms have so far deepened recession, accentuated unemployment and decreased social and living standards in all loan-recipient countries. The anticipated recovery from the crisis appears to be uneven and underlines the fragility of the EU. In this context, there is growing concern for the effectiveness of the implemented structural reforms, especially in the vulnerable SEE periphery of Europe. We focus on the Balkan EU-member states of Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, to explore the effect of the memoranda-imposed labor market re/deregulation on their economies. We find that despite the different characteristics of the crisis in these countries, high unemployment is persisting, employment precariousness and risk of in-work poverty is increasing, and their capacity for economic recovery is deteriorating.

Regional Integration in Western Balkans: A Case for Cross-Border Business Cooperation?

Considering the regional trade pattern and business potential in the Western Balkans, we argue that despite the significant political, institutional and socio-economic advances of the individual countries during the last 20 years, regional integration and endogenous business development are still lagging. This is much the outcome of persistent state rigidities and trade distortions. On the one hand, regional integration has been adopted as the policy for enhancing the region’s competitiveness in the context of EU accession and globalization. But this has been only manifested in Regional Trade Agreements with the EU. On the other hand, trade relations among the region’s countries are weak. Many governments have maintained intra-regional trade barriers to secure customs revenues, while they have directed trade to EU markets. However, results have been poor: FDI and exports have risen only in textiles, metals and mining where competitiveness is based on cheap labor or natural resources; and very few local companies have been able to compete in EU markets as most are too weak financially to upgrade production to EU high value-added standards. Nevertheless, data supports that intra-regional trade is important for the countries and sectors in question. Trade with neighboring countries can be a realistic way to improve the potential of local businesses – struggling with obsolete equipment, high debts and low productivity. Restoring old trading relationships interrupted by war could considerably increase cross-border trade, and assure regional business viability. The barriers posed by the individual countries in the region to doing business especially across borders, indicate that regional integration in Western Balkans is very weak from the economic point of view. We argue however, that regional integration from a socio-cultural point of view – built on people’s common historical background, shared goals and concerns for good neighborly relations – constitutes a solid base for cross-border business cooperation. We outline here an analytical approach, capturing the complexity of the war-torn Western Balkan area and its socio-cultural and political specificities, overlooked by mainstream economics. We argue that Western Balkan countries can accelerate their economic development by exploiting their potential for cross-border trading and entrepreneurship. This may offer a politically and economically realistic strategy for regional integration in the area. Economic development and regional cooperation could directly benefit stability and security as well. Cross-border business clusters, embedded in common socio-economic contexts, could act as development leverage. Existing obstacles need to be addressed and overcome; and this is more a question of political willingness than of corporate strategy.

The Greek Agro-Food Industry: Regional Competitiveness in a Globalised Market

Globalisation has implied a new international division of labour where many kinds of commodity chains spread across the globe. On the other hand, many of the most rapidly growing industries are strongly associated with specific regionalities. Such potential has emerged for the Greek agro-food industry since the 1990s, due to the shift of demand towards traditional food products of high safety, quality and diversity. New market opportunities have emerged for local agro-food agglomerations of specialised small family-owned or cooperative firms operating in peripheral regions. Peripherality itself comprises the regional advantage, by preserving the products’ high quality and rich diversity. The local business ‘milieux’ of Greek rural regions have nourished several successful agro-food enterprises, which by taking advantage of traditional and dynamic territorialised traded and untraded factors have managed to survive global competition.