The Greek Economic Crisis What it Means for Greece and for Europe

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Dr. George Pagoulatos, Associate Professor of Politics, Department of International and European Economic Studies, Athens University of Economics and Business - March 24, 2010

2010 European sovereign debt crisis

In early 2010 fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed concerning some countries in Europe including: Greece, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal. This led to a crisis of confidence as well as the widening of bond yield spreads and risk insurance on credit default swaps between these countries and other EU members, most importantly Germany. Concern about rising government deficits and debt levels across the globe together with a wave of downgrading of European Government debt has created alarm on financial markets. The debt crisis has been mostly centred on recent events in Greece, where there is concern about the rising cost of financing government debt. On 2 May 2010, the Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund agreed to a €110 billion loan for Greece, conditional on the implementation of harsh Greek austerity measures. On 9 May 2010, Europe's Finance Ministers approved a comprehensive rescue package worth almost a trillion dollars aimed at ensuring financial stability across Europe. (Wikipedia)