The Greek government-debt crisis began in 2009 and, as of November 2017, was still ongoing. During this period, many changes had occurred in Greece. The income of many Greeks has declined, levels of unemployment have increased, elections and resignations of politicians have altered the country's political landscape radically, the Greek parliament has passed many austerity bills, and protests have become common sights throughout the country.
Greece joined the European Communities (subsequently subsumed by the European Union) on 1 January 1981, ushering in a period of sustained growth. Widespread investments in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure, as well as funds from the European Union and growing revenues from tourism, shipping and a fast-growing service sector raised the country's standard of living to unprecedented levels. The country adopted the Euro in 2001 and over the next 7 years the country's GDP per capita more than doubled, from $13,070 in 2001 to $28,660 in 2008. [1] The Greek government, encouraged by the European Commission, European Central Bank, private banking institutions, and the Greek business community also took out loans to pay Greek and foreign infrastructure companies for a wide variety of infrastructure projects such as those related to the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. [2] [ failed verification ] Government deficits were also consistently underreported. [3] As the Financial crisis of 2007–08 began to affect Greece's economy, the country's GDP stagnated between 2008 and 2010 and the government's capacity to repay its creditors was drastically reduced.
On June 21, 2018, Greece's creditors agreed on a 10-year extension of maturities on 96.6 billion euros of loans (i.e., almost a third of Greece's total debt), as well as a 10-year grace period in interest and amortization payments on the same loans. [135] Greece successfully exited (as declared) the bailouts on August 20, 2018. [136]
Year | Deficit as a % of GDP Source: Eurostat [137] | Debt as a % of GDP Source: Eurostat [138] |
---|---|---|
2008 | −9.8 | 112.9 |
2009 | −15.7 | 129.7 |
2010 | −10.9 | 148.3 |
2011 | −10.2 | 171.3 |
2012 | −8.7 | 156.9 |
2013 | −12.3 | 175.0 |
2014 | −3.6 | 178.9 |
2015 | −5.7 | 176.8 |
2016 | +0.6 | 180.8 |
2017 | +0.8 | 178.6 |
year | rate Source: Eurostat [139] |
---|---|
2008 | −0.3 |
2009 | −4.3 |
2010 | −5.5 |
2011 | −9.1 |
2012 | −7.3 |
2013 | −3.2 |
2014 | 0.7 |
2015 | −0.3 |
2016 | −0.2 |
|
|
|
quarter | rate Source: EL.STAT. [142] | rate Source: Eurostat [143] |
---|---|---|
2010 Q1 | 11.9 | 11.4 |
2010 Q2 | 12.0 | 12.2 |
2010 Q3 | 12.6 | 13.0 |
2010 Q4 | 14.4 | 14.3 |
2011 Q1 | 16.1 | 15.3 |
2011 Q2 | 16.5 | 16.7 |
2011 Q3 | 17.9 | 18.2 |
2011 Q4 | 20.9 | 20.9 |
2012 Q1 | 22.8 | 21.9 |
2012 Q2 | 23.8 | 23.9 |
2012 Q3 | 24.9 | 25.5 |
2012 Q4 | 26.2 | 26.3 |
2013 Q1 | 27.6 | 27.0 |
2013 Q2 | 27.3 | 27.6 |
2013 Q3 | 27.2 | 27.8 |
2013 Q4 | 27.8 | 27.6 |
2014 Q1 | 27.8 | 27.2 |
2014 Q2 | 26.6 | 26.9 |
2014 Q3 | 25.5 | 26.2 |
2014 Q4 | 26.1 | 26.0 |
2015 Q1 | 26.6 | 25.9 |
Political position/ Ideology | Political Party | 2009 Legislative Elections | 2012 May Legislative Elections | 2012 June Legislative Elections | 2014 European Elections | 2015 January Legislative Elections | 2015 September Legislative Elections | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
% (votes) | % (votes) | % (votes) | % (votes) | % (votes) | % (votes) | |||
Far-Left | Communist Party of Greece | 7.54 (517,154) | 8.48 (536,105) | 4.50 (277,227) | 6.11 (349,255) | 5.47 (338,138) | 5.55 (301.615) | |
ANTARSYA | 0.36 (24,737) | 1.19 (75,416) | 0.33 (20,416) | 0.72 (41,307) | 0.64 (39,460) | 0.85 (46.096) | ||
Left-Wing | Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) | 4.60 (315,627) | 16.79 (1,061,928) | 26.89 (1,655,022) | 26.57 (1,518,608) | 36.34 (2,246,064) | 35.46 (1.925.904) | |
Popular Unity | — | — | — | — | — | 2.86 (155.242) | ||
Centre-Left | PASOK/Olive Tree/Socialist Alignment | 43.92 (3,012,373) | 13.18 (833,452) | 12.28 (756,024) | 8.02 (458,403) | 4.68 (289,482) | 6.28 (341.390) | |
Democratic Left | — | 6.11 (386,394) | 6.25 (384,986) | 1.20 (68.873) | 0.49 (30,074) | — | ||
Social Agreement | — | 0.96 (60,552) | — | — | — | — | ||
The River | — | — | — | 6.60 (377,438) | 6.05 (373,868) | 4.09 (222.166) | ||
Movement of Democratic Socialists | — | — | — | — | 2.46 (152,230) | — | ||
Ecologist | Ecologist Greens | 2.53 (173,449) | 2.93 (185,485) | 0.88 (54,408) | 0.90 (51.673) | — | — | |
Centre | Union of Centrists | 0.27 (18,278) | 0.61 (38,376) | 0.28 (17,191) | 0.65 (36,879) | 1.79 (110,827) | 3.43 (186.457 ) | |
Teleia | — | — | — | — | 1.77 (109,483) | — | ||
Liberal | Drassi | — | 1.80 (114,066) | — | — | — | — | |
Recreate Greece | — | 2.15 (135,960) | — | — | — | 0.53 (28.936) | ||
Democratic Alliance | — | 2.55 (161,550) | — | — | — | — | ||
Drassi/Recreate Greece | — | — | 1.59 (98,140) | 0.91 (51.749) | — | — | ||
Greek European Citizens | — | — | — | 1.40 (82,350) | — | — | ||
Centre-Right | New Democracy | 33.48 (2,295,967) | 18.85 (1,192,103) | 29.66 (1,825,497) | 22.72 (1,298,713) | 27.81 (1,718,815) | 28.10 (1.526.205 ) | |
Right-Wing | Independent Greeks | — | 10.62 (671,324) | 7.51 (462,406) | 3.46 (197,701) | 4.75 (293,371) | 3.69 (200.423 ) | |
Union for the Fatherland and the People | — | — | — | 1.04 (59.341) | — | — | ||
Far Right | Popular Orthodox Rally | 5.63 (386,152) | 2.89 (182,925) | 1.58 (97,099) | 2.69 (154.027) | 1.03 (63,692) | — | |
Golden Dawn | 0.29 (19,636) | 6.97 (440,966) | 6.92 (426,025) | 9.39 (536,910) | 6.28 (388,447) | 6.99 (379.581) |
Alexis Tsipras is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019.
The 2008–2014 Spanish financial crisis, also known as the Great Recession in Spain or the Great Spanish Depression, began in 2008 during the world 2007–2008 financial crisis. In 2012, it made Spain a late participant in the European sovereign debt crisis when the country was unable to bail out its financial sector and had to apply for a €100 billion rescue package provided by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
The European debt crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis, was a multi-year debt crisis that took place in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone member states were unable to repay or refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks under their national supervision without the assistance of third parties like other eurozone countries, the European Central Bank (ECB), or the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Greece faced a sovereign debt crisis in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Widely known in the country as The Crisis, it reached the populace as a series of sudden reforms and austerity measures that led to impoverishment and loss of income and property, as well as a humanitarian crisis. In all, the Greek economy suffered the longest recession of any advanced mixed economy to date and became the first developed country whose stock market was downgraded to that of an emerging market in 2013. As a result, the Greek political system was upended, social exclusion increased, and hundreds of thousands of well-educated Greeks left the country.
The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) is a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the eurozone to address the European sovereign-debt crisis. It was agreed by the Council of the European Union on 9 May 2010, with the objective of preserving financial stability in Europe by providing financial assistance to eurozone states in economic difficulty. The Facility's headquarters are in Luxembourg City, as are those of the European Stability Mechanism. Treasury management services and administrative support are provided to the Facility by the European Investment Bank through a service level contract. Since the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, the activities of the EFSF are carried out by the ESM.
From late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis in some European states developed, with the situation becoming particularly tense in early 2010. Greece was most acutely affected, but fellow Eurozone members Cyprus, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain were also significantly affected. In the EU, especially in countries where sovereign debt has increased sharply due to bank bailouts, a crisis of confidence has emerged with the widening of bond yield spreads and risk insurance on credit default swaps between these countries and other EU members, most importantly Germany.
Ioannis Georgiou "Yanis" Varoufakis is a Greek economist and politician. Since 2018, he has been Secretary-General of Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), a left-wing pan-European political party he co-founded in 2016. Previously, he was a member of Syriza and was Greece's Minister of Finance between January 2015 and July 2015, negotiating on behalf of the Greek government during the 2009-2018 Greek government-debt crisis.
Legislative elections were held in Greece on Sunday, 6 May 2012 to elect all 300 members to the Hellenic Parliament. It was scheduled to be held in late 2013, four years after the previous election; however, an early election was stipulated in the coalition agreement of November 2011 which formed the Papademos Cabinet. The coalition comprised both of Greece's traditional major political parties, PASOK on the left and New Democracy (ND) on the right, as well as the right-wing Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS). The aim of the coalition was to relieve the Greek government-debt crisis by ratifying and implementing decisions taken with other Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a month earlier.
The Independent Greeks – National Patriotic Alliance was a national conservative political party in Greece.
The Greek government formation of May 2012 was a series of failed attempts to form a new government after the legislative election in May 2012 by the three largest parties: New Democracy (centre-right), Coalition of the Radical Left and Panhellenic Socialist Movement, respectively, and then followed by the President of Greece. After the negotiations led by the president had failed on 15 May, a temporary caretaker cabinet under Council of State president Panagiotis Pikrammenos was appointed on 16 May, and a new election was set for 17 June.
A Greek withdrawal from the eurozone was a hypothetical scenario, debated mostly in the early to mid 2010s, under which Greece would withdraw from the Eurozone to deal with the Greek government-debt crisis of the time. This conjecture was given the nickname "Grexit", a portmanteau combining the English words 'Greek' and 'exit', and which has been expressed in Greek as ελλέξοδος. The term "Graccident" was coined for the case that Greece exited the EU and the euro unintentionally. These terms first came into use in 2012 and have been revitalised at each of the bailouts made available to Greece after that.
The 2010–2014 Portuguese financial crisis was part of the wider downturn of the Portuguese economy that started in 2001 and possibly ended between 2016 and 2017. The period from 2010 to 2014 was probably the hardest and more challenging part of the entire economic crisis; this period includes the 2011–14 international bailout to Portugal and was marked by intense austerity policies, more intense than the wider 2001-2017 crisis. Economic growth stalled in Portugal between 2001 and 2002, and following years of internal economic crisis, the worldwide Great Recession started to hit Portugal in 2008 and eventually led to the country being unable to repay or refinance its government debt without the assistance of third parties. To prevent an insolvency situation in the debt crisis, Portugal applied in April 2011 for bail-out programs and drew a cumulated €78 billion from the IMF, the EFSM, and the EFSF. Portugal exited the bailout in May 2014, the same year that positive economic growth re-appeared following three years of recession. The government achieved a 2.1% budget deficit in 2016 and in 2017 the economy grew 2.7%.
Legislative elections were held in Greece on Sunday 25 January 2015 to elect all 300 members of the Hellenic Parliament in accordance with the constitution. The election was held earlier than scheduled due to the failure of the Greek parliament to elect a new president on 29 December 2014.
The Greek government-debt crisis is one of a number of current European sovereign-debt crises. In late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among investors concerning Greece's ability to meet its debt obligations because of strong increase in government debt levels. This led to a crisis of confidence, indicated by a widening of bond yield spreads and the cost of risk insurance on credit default swaps compared to the other countries in the Eurozone, most importantly Germany.
The eurozone crisis is an ongoing financial crisis that has made it difficult or impossible for some countries in the euro area to repay or re-finance their government debt without the assistance of third parties.
This article details the fourteen austerity packages passed by the Government of Greece between 2010 and 2017. These austerity measures were a result of the Greek government-debt crisis and other economic factors. All of the legislation listed remains in force.
Euclid Stefanou Tsakalotos is a Greek economist and politician who was Minister of Finance of Greece from 2015 to 2019. He was also a member of the Central Committee of Syriza and has represented Athens B in the Hellenic Parliament since May 2012. He left Syriza in November 2023 and on 5 December 2023 he became founding member of New Left (Greece) parliamentary group.
Zoe Konstantopoulou is a Greek politician of the political left, who served as Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament from February to October 2015. Since 2016 she has been the president of the Course of Freedom.
Following the January 2015 Greek election, the leader of the largest party SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, was charged with forming a coalition government.
A referendum to decide whether Greece should accept the bailout conditions in the country's government-debt crisis proposed jointly by the European Commission (EC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) on 25 June 2015 took place on 5 July 2015. The referendum was announced by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in the early morning of 27 June 2015 and ratified the following day by the Parliament and the President. It was the first referendum to be held since the republic referendum of 1974 and the only one in modern Greek history not to concern the form of government.