Eurozone Debt Crisis

Definitions, history and policies.

Concepts

European Financial Stability Facility

Austerity Measure

Timeline:

1999
In January, Euro officially became the common currency
2001
Greece joined the euro.
2007
Slovenia joined the euro.
2008
Malta and Cyprus join the euro.
In December, EU leaders agree on 200bn-euro stimulus package for European growth following financial crisis.
2009
Slovakia joined the euro.
In April, the EU orders France, Spain, the Irish Republic and Greece to reduce their budget deficits.
In October, socialist George Papandreou won the general election in Greece.
In December, Greek debt amounted to %113 of GDP, double the Eurozone limit of 60%.
2010
In January, EU reported severe accounting regularities in Greece
Greek deficit was announced to e 13.6% of GDP
In May, Eurozone members agree a 110bn-euro bailout to rescue Greece
In November, Eurozone members agree a 85bn-euro bailout to rescue the Republic of Ireland
2011
Estonia joined the euro
In May, Eurozone and IMF agreed a 78bn-euro bailout to rescue Portugal
Centre of Economic and Business Research (CEBR) predicts that Eurozone will break up in the next couple years.
Second bailout for Greece worth 109bn-euro was agreed.
Italy and Spain passed several austerity measures to control their debts
Greece passed another austerity measure.
In October, UK injected 75bn-pound into the UK economy as quantitative easing.
In this year, recapitalizing European banks are one of the issues bloc countries tried to resolve.
France, Belgium and Luxembourg are to bail out the troubled bank Dexia, following fears it could go bankrupt
In October, 8bn-euro of bailout to Greece was agreed
2012

Resources:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-13856580