This thesis seeks to shed light on the political and ideological climate at the time of the adoption and entry into force of the Exercise of Rights from Public Funds Act and the Social Assistance Benefits Act 2010-2012, and again at the time of amending and adjusting the Social Assistance Benefits Act 2016-2018. In 2010, the then Liberal government, on the pretext of establishing a ‘fairer and more sustainable social state’, adopted a package of neoliberal reforms, the main function of which was to reduce the budget deficit during the financial crisis, together with a systemic reduction of accessibility to social rights. As a result of the reform, the financial position of families and the elderly deteriorated in the coming years, and as many as 16,000 retirees voluntarily gave up their income supplement in 2012 despite financial distress and low pensions due to fear of losing their property. In the empirical part of the thesis, I investigate the positions of individual parliamentary and non-parliamentary interest groups, which includes reviewing and analysing parliamentary debate, standpoints and professional analysis of the scientific public, and reporting of selected newspapers.
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