Parliamentary democracy in Greece is under intense pressure, as the declining public trust towards the Greek parliament and the violent incidents against its members signify. The proposed paper aims to examine the response of the Greek parliament to the implications of the financial crisis. In particular, the study examines if and what reforms the Greek parliament undertook to deal with growing citizen frustration (and aggressiveness) towards the country’s political system.
The paper re-visits the notion of crisis in representative and deliberative democracy before turning to the literature on parliamentary reforms. We argue that in the case of Greece the shock of the financial crisis afflicting the country should have acted as a powerful stimulant for parliamentary reform. However, the Greek constitution makes substantive reforms difficult, and in the current political context the tension between what is necessary and what is politically feasible seems stronger than ever. Nevertheless, some procedural reforms in the short term are in principle possible. At this stage of our research we look at reforms that are rich in symbolism related to (1) the parliament’s budget, (2) MP allowances and (3) the waiving of MP immunity. Relying on a combination of sources (plenary minutes and other parliamentary documents, interviews with MPs and functionaries), we demonstrate that changes took place in all three areas, but they were contested raising questions of effectiveness and independence of the Greek legislature.
