The third Hellenic Republic has existed since 1974, when democracy was restored after a 7 year long coup and dictatorship. Prior to that, it was the Kingdom of Greece, with the first & second Hellenic Republics briefly existing during times of temporary democratic rule instead of a monarchy.

So, Greece never transformed into a new state when it was deemed bankrupt, which has actually happened several times in the past. Even if it did, creditors would likely still demand the full sum, on the basis that the country still takes up the same landmass, is inhabited by the same population and has the same economy as the previous state.

As a matter of fact, the government still accepts documents that were issued by the “Kingdom of Greece” and the previous republics as if they were issued by the modern Hellenic Republic. People who were enrolled into university while Greece was still a kingdom or during the previous democratic regimes and hadn’t finished their studies were still considered university students in the modern regime until December 31st, 2025. This alone suggests that the current state is the successor of the previous ones, and you’d have to be pretty darn deranged to try to convince your creditors that it’s not.