How Financial Turmoil Shapes Civil Society Regulation: a Comparison between Greece and Malta

The aim of the paper is to assess how the evolution of legal environment in Greece and Malta after 2000 affected stability or change in these countries' CSO sectors. Emphasis will be given to the legal regulation in response to financial crisis and SYRIZA’s governmental period during the Eurozone crisis (2015 – 2019) in Greece as well as the "newborn" CSOs in Malta. The focal point of the paper is to measure the evolution of legal restrictions and privileges granted to CSOs, examining specific types of organizations such as associations and trade unions in two EU member states whose exposure to crises were most different. We first analyze the civil society sectors in both countries and then evaluate the evolution of their legal environment, in light of Greece's extensive and Malta's very limited exposure to crises commonly assumed to invite CSO restrictions (e.g. populist governments, exposure to financial crises).