Greek Minister of Labour and Social Affairs visits University of Groningen

At the invitation of the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen, the Greek Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of the Tsipras government, Dr. Georgios Katrougalos, holds a lecture on the importance of social security in Europe. The lecture will take place on October 10.

As a minister of the Tsipras government Katrougalos is now in charge with the painful reform programme of the Greek pension system and welfare state, imposed upon Greece by the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In his lecture Katrougalos will address the following questions: Are these reforms in line with the European social model and what must be done to improve the EU social dimension in the future? Why is it important for Europe to invest in a more solid social foundation of European integration? Katrougalos is also professor in public law at the Democritus University of Thrace. In this capacity he has extensively studied the European social model as part of the constitutional traditions of the countries of Europe.

The lecture is part of the Efese programme, an EU sponsored initiative of the Universities of Groningen, Leuven and Ljubljana and the Centre for European Constitutional Law (CECL) in Athens to develop a new format for the exchange of social security education ( www.efese.eu ). The Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen is organizer of the international seminal on October 10.

More information

For more information, please contact Marije Cnossen, Communication Advisor Faculty of Law.