Issue 3 September 2005 The Hellenic Observatory Newsletter 2005 Editorial Inside this issue: Welcome to this third issue of our newsletter. omy of Greece and South East Europe. As The Hellenic Observatory continues to grow previously reported, his post has been funded and develop. We can look forward to a strong by a consortium of external donors in Greece. programme of activities in the coming year. Vassilis has already taken several initiatives Editorial 1 We hope that you'll wish to join us for some on behalf of the Observatory in his area of of our events and to check our webpages for expertise and these will further develop in the further material. coming years. The Athens Olympics legacy 2 In the last academic year, we benefitted from As the Observatory develops, we hold firm to The HO Annual lecture 3 several internal changes. Dr. Spyros our core purpose. This is to promote debate Economides joined us full time, from the De- and study on Greece and Cyprus, in the ap- partment of International Relations here at propriate regional setting, within the perspec- The Observatory welcomes Stelios 3 the LSE, and he has become the Observa- tive of the social sciences. Major issues con- tory's Deputy Director. You will see from front them within south east Europe and these pages the strength of contribution he within the European Union. has made already and I look forward to work- Greece’s modernisation process 3 ing with him in the future. But, the Observatory is also able to look for- ward to a period in which it further develops Labour market flexibility 4 We were also able to appoint Dr. Vassilis its role. We hope that these developments Monastiriotis as Lecturer in the Political Econ- will enhance its research function and HO Research Seminars 2004- 4 2005 As in past years we have had a very full and lively audiences to the Observatory. successful range of activities, attracting par- In June this year, the Observatory also held a ticipants, audiences and interest from a vari- The 2nd PhD Symposium on 5 major conference dedicated to the work of ety of backgrounds from the UK and beyond. modern Greece PhD students researching on Greece. The 2 nd Our major public events of the year centred LSE PhD Symposium on Modern Greece: on the inaugural London Hellenic Society Current Social Science Research on Greece Six months at the Hellenic 6 Annual Lecture where we hosted the Mayor Observatory proved to be a major success attracting over of Athens Mrs Dora Bakoyannis and the Sixth 80 presenters and some 120 participants Annual Lecture of the Hellenic Observatory overall. A major policy seminar held in Athens Advisory Board 6 where we welcomed back Professor Loukas in April 2005 looked at the issue of labour Tsoukalis of the University of Athens and a market flexibility and drew an extensive pol- previous holder of the Eleftherios Venizelos icy-making, business and academic audience Chair at the LSE. Two further public lectures Corruption in Greece 7 to what we hope is one of many such events by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, a graduate of the to be held in Athens. Back in London, the LSE, and founder of Easyjet and other ‘Easy’ Observatory continued to attract strong audi- projects, and Dr Yannos Papantoniou ences to our research seminars which were Latest news 8 (formerly Minister of National Economy and held fortnightly throughout the Michaelmas Minister of Defence) also drew generous and and Lent terms. Issue 3 Page 2 September 2005 National Bank of Greece for its generous sponsorship which will allow us to maintain this Fellowship for a further three Apart from its public events the Observatory is still keen to years. In addition we would like to thank various organisa- build upon a growing research profile. We have in the past tions for the financial support they have lent us through the year stepped up our efforts to attract funding for research year by sponsoring our activities, publications and students. projects and fellowships. We were particularly pleased to Special thanks to the Bodossakis, Niarchos and Onassis have had as a Senior Research Fellow, Professor Panos Foundations, EFG Eurobank Ergasias and the Kalofolias Tsakloglou of the Athens University of Economics and Busi- Group. ness, who made an important contribution to the Observatory during the last academic year. We would like to thank the THE LONDON HELLENIC SOCIETY ANNUAL LECTURE Following on so soon after the conclu- sion of a very successful Athens Olym- pics, Mrs Bakoyanni’s lecture on What Makes an Olympic City? Lessons and Legacies from the Athens Experience , which was held on 4 November 2004 and chaired by the Director of the School Howard Davies, drew a huge attendance in the Old Theatre of the LSE. Such was the demand that there was an overspill theatre with a live video link. In her lecture, the Mayor of Athens high- lighted the atypical nature of the Athens bid because of the expectations arising from the classical heritage of the Games and the small size of the Greek population and economy relative to Dora Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens other host cities. Mrs Bakoyannis stressed that in the run up to the Games, concern and criticism of Ath- met with the answer, ‘We are going to figured high on the Olympic agenda ens’s readiness to host the Olympiad, surprise the world’. In discussing the and as such the resulting changes added to a general anxiety, which was legacy of the Games, the Mayor indi- would enhance the quality of day to cated that the up- day life of Athenians and others. grading of the infra- More importantly, she pointed out structure of Athens that the biggest legacy of the Games and other parts of was not only economic benefit or Greece would be of international perceptions of Greece, major benefit to the but that Greeks managed to change country both as a their own perception of themselves tourist destination by defying criticism and holding such but also in general successful Games. economic terms and The timeliness of the lecture, and its for the citizens of relevance to a cosmopolitan LSE Athens and other audience and broader London com- host sites. But she munity (aware of its own Olympic bid) also emphasised was reflected in the extremely lively that the legacy was and broad ranging question and an- not restricted to swer session which followed the lec- material benefits. Dora Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens and George Rodopoulos, Presi- ture, in which many members of the Environmental and dent of the London Hellenic Society audience searched for answers from planning issues the Athens experience for future Issue 3 Page 3 September 2005 The HO Annual lecture Our Sixth Annual Hellenic Observatory Lec- from enlargement to transatlantic relations. ture, held on 6 December 2004, was also Building on his book, What Kind of Europe? , extremely well-attended reflecting both the Professor Tsoukalis stressed that Europeans reputation of our speaker, Professor Loukas rather than European nation states are faced Tsoukalis, and the significance of his with a series of stark choices about their future theme, European Integration: What is at and that these choices which are inherently Stake Now (for British, Greeks and oth- and essentially political irrespective of national- ers)? . At a time when discussions on ity. The lecture ended with Professor Tsoukalis Europe’s future both constitutionally and proposing that irrespective of the outcome of geographically figure highly, Professor national referenda on the Constitutional Treaty, Tsoukalis provided a forceful overview of it was now time to have an open, public debate the challenges facing the European Union on the future of Europe. The discussion which and the citizens of Europe in pursuit of the followed the lecture spanned the range of is- European project. Professor Tsoukalis tack- sues developed in the lecture and looked more led all the weighty issues of the day from closely at what was at stake for Greece both in the democratic deficit to economic policy, terms of the future of European integration and The Observatory welcomes Stelios Stelios Haji-Ioannou, one of the best known businessmen in the U.K., spoke of his personal background and career as an entrepre- neur. He explained how he had developed his innovative business strategy - low cost, no frills services – across different sectors and his plans for expansion. He compared his own strategy to that of others, large and small, and responded to queries about business innovation at the present time. The audience filled the Hong Kong Theatre and comprised a cross section of the School and local Greek communities. A large num- Greece’s modernisation process On 12 May 2005, the Observatory wel- tional position concentrating comed back Dr Yannos Papantoniou, on relations with Turkey, the who had previously spoken at the LSE latter’s path to accession in his capacity of Minister of Defence negotiations and the gen- in the Simitis Government. Dr Papanto- eral issues of where we go niou’s talk on Greece’s Modernisation from here in relation to Cy- Process: Visions and New Realities prus. attracted a keen audience drawn from the LSE’s Greek student body and many more from the broader Greek The former Minister’s main community in London. Part of the for- focus was the process of mer Minister’s lecture was devoted to modernisation in Greece, accounting for the policy of successive arguing that substantial Pasok administrations, with specific progress had been made focus on the economy: Euro-zone under Pasok, but emphasising that certain public services including for membership; reduction in fiscal deficit; radical reform was needed in four ar- example, the state university system structural reform and privatisation and eas if this, in his view, critical agenda and state hospitals; performance re- changes in accounting for defence were to be pushed forward.