Asset depletion is predominantly driven by the debtors’ tendency to place significant parts of the insolvency estate beyond the reach of creditors.

Almost a decade after the onset of the European debt crisis, Greece continues to struggle. While the country has managed to address many of its fiscal inconsistencies, the real economy has yet to reap the benefits of stabilisation, recording only a sluggish growth of 1.9% in 2018.

On 22 June 2018, the Eurogroup reached what was termed a “historic” deal on a debt relief for Greece, a momentous achievement and the final step for Greece’s return to economic normality, after almost a decade of European and IMF bailouts. The debt package was portrayed in the public domain as “an historic moment for the Eurozone”, “the end of the Greek crisis” and even “the biggest act of solidarity that the world has ever seen”. However, the same enthusiasm is not shared by all. Concerns still persist that the agreed measures are not sufficient to restore debt sustainability.

Following the example set by many other European jurisdictions, Greece sought to reform its Insolvency Code in 2007, in order to introduce procedures that offered a genuine chance of survival to ailing companies. The Law of 2007 has been subsequently tweaked a few times in attempts by the legislator to strengthen the rescue culture nurtured by the 2007 reforms and to facilitate corporate rescue in a financially challenging environment, where the stigma of failure still has a strong presence.