The Eurozone crisis and its management prompted dramatic changes to social rights and entitlements, specifically in the Member States which were most severely affected by the economic downturn. Fundamental rights, including fundamental social rights, from different sources can be a means to contest those crisis-imposed changes.

In response to the financial crisis that erupted in Greece, the European Council decided to amend the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to allow the establishment of a stability mechanism to safeguard the stability of the euro area. This is the first use made of one of the two ‘simplified’ Treaty revision procedures introduced by the Lisbon Treaty.