Greece is the country of “Xenios Zeus”, the Ancient Greek god of foreigners and hospitality; however, it is also the main point of entry to Europe. Since the beginning of 2014, 1,112,332 refugees crossed the borders of Greece. Overall, 33,677 children and adolescent refugees sought asylum in Greece from 2013 to 2017, while 57,042 refugees are currently being hosted. The rapid entry of refugees into Greece raised the critical issue of health policy. The Greek National Health Service (NHS) faces many challenges. Adequate economic and human support is essential if this situation is to be managed successfully. However, Greece still bears the burden of the economic downturn since 2009. In fact, the crisis led to shortages in crucial equipment, and unmet health needs for both locals and refugees. The NHS deals with traumatic experiences, as well as cultural and linguistic differences. Overcrowded reception centers and hotspots are highly demanding and are associated with severe disease burden. This highlights the importance of guidelines for medical screening, healthcare provision, and a well-managed transition to definitive medical facilities. Furthermore, non-governmental organizations make an essential contribution by ensuring appropriate support to refugee minors, especially when they experience poor access to the NHS.

An Emergency Medical Service (EMS) system must encompass a spectrum of care, with dedicated pre-hospital and in-hospital medical facilities. It has to be organised in such a way as to include all necessary services—such as triage accurate initial assessment, prompt resuscitation, efficient management of emergency cases, and transport to definitive care. The global economic downturn has had a direct effect on the health sector and poses additional threats to the healthcare system. Greece is one of the hardest-hit countries. This manuscript aims to present the structure of the Greek EMS system and the impact of the current economic recession on it. Nowadays, primary care suffers major shortages in crucial equipment, unmet health needs, and ineffective central coordination. Patients are also facing economic limitations that lead to difficulties in using healthcare services. The multi-factorial problem of in-hospital EMS overcrowding is also evident and has been linked with potentially poorer clinical outcomes. Furthermore, the ongoing refugee crisis challenges the national EMS. Adoption of a triage scale, expansion of the primary care network, and an effective primary–hospital continuum of care are urgently needed in Greece to provide comprehensive, culturally competent, and high-quality health care.

Entry relates with the appearance of a new producer in a market or industrial sector. The role of entry is critical, because it operates as a balancing force against high levels of industrial concentration and the abuse of dominant position by firms with large market shares. The ease of entry is adjusted according to the number and height of barriers to entry. A barrier to entry can be defined as anything that restricts competition in a sector, when more competition would be socially beneficial. The current research proposes a practical method for diagnosing the existence of industrial barriers to entry and for measuring their overall height. The method is based in the principle that profits attract new entrants in an industry, and sectors in which there is an increase of incumbent firms' profitability, without new entry taking place, are cases of sectors with high barriers to entry. The method is applied in six European industrial sectors, based on data taken from Eurostat.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that was initiated in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference and formally created in 1945 by 29 member countries, in order to assist in the reconstruction of the world's international payment system post-World War II. The IMF presently has 188 member countries, and its stated goals are to ensure the stability of the international monetary and financial system, resolve crises and work with its member countries to promote growth and alleviate poverty. The tools that IMF uses are lending, economic surveillance, technical assistance and training, underpinned by research and statistics. During the years, the IMF has lent funds in various developing and developed countries around the world. IMF effectiveness, however, in achieving its goals is in question. There have been many cases of countries where the IMF has lent funds and people's lives have actually gotten worse. Social indicators like health, education, employment, poverty and income inequality statistics can be used in order to test the validity of this statement. Consequently, the goal of the current article is to examine the course of social indicators in countries where the IMF has intervened, and assess its effectiveness in achieving its goals.

The goal of this research was to measure income inequality and the distribution of the tax burden in Greece, by using open tax data released by the Greek Independent Authority of Public Revenues. The findings reveal multiple distortions in the disperse of tax burden among taxpayers’ income groups, along with very high income inequality among the population. The calculated Gini coefficient and S80/S20 ratio were found to be considerably higher than any previous measurements performed by international organizations and European statistical authorities through household surveys. The findings indicate an urgent need for an income and tax policy overhaul in the country, while the methodology that was used in the research can be replicated in other countries. JEL classification number: D63, H2, O2. Keywords: Tax, Income inequality, Greece, Gini coefficient.