The European Union And The Euro Crisis

On January 1st 1981 Greece joined the European Communities ushering in a period of sustained growth. The countries widespread investments on infrastructure coupled with funds from the European Union led to a sharp increase in revenue from tourism and the service sector. This helped the country reach historical highs in their standard of living. By 2001 Greece had adopted the Euro and in the proceeding 7 years the GDP per capita went from $12,400 in 2001 to $31,700 in 2008, an increase of 156%. The Greek government was encouraged by the European Central Bank and other private banking institutions to

The country adopted the Euro in 2001, three years after many other EU countries had already done so, due to budget deficits the country was going through whilst under the drachma (Buchanan, 2015). As a result of their adoption of the Euro, they experienced a period of economic growth from 2001-2007, but many economists deemed it “unsustainable” due to the country taking out cheap loans through the EU (Buchanan, 2015). In 2008, when the global market crashed, Greece was unable to climb out of debt, as unlike in the past, where it could simply print more money, due to them being under the Euro, which is controlled by the European Central Bank, they were unable to do so. As a result, unemployment skyrocketed in the country, reaching heights of 25% (Buchanan, 2015). Following the beginning of the debt crisis, the number of terror incidents spiked from 18 in 2007 to 118 in 2009 (START, 2016a). As many domestic terror organizations in Greece are anti-capitalist, they likely blamed the foreign corporations and banks for the financial crisis and attacked their property as a result. When Greece was bailed out twice, once in 2010 and again in 2012, it unfortunately did not fix the problem as the money the country was given was simply turned around and used to pay off international debts rather than stimulate the economy (Buchanan, 2015). This failure to protect the investments of the Greek people may have led to another spike in incidents in 2013 (START,

In order to be a member of the EU, you must be able to maintain and prove a stable economy. Greece's economic difficulties, it have impacted the EU as a whole. If one country is unable to prove their economy

Since 1973 when the British first joined the European Union their membership has been a controversial issue. When conservatives in the United Kingdom won the general election in 2015, their election manifesto promised to hold a referendum on whether or not the United Kingdom should stay or leave the European Union. The referendum also referred to as “Brexit” is scheduled to take place by the end of 2017. The United Kingdom initially joined the union to be part of the common market for the purpose of trade and to develop international relationships. The main argument for those who are pro Brexit is that being part of the European Union is too costly for the United Kingdom, that the EU has grown to large, has interfered to far into

Greece's best chance of surviving their economic problems lied in their joining of the European Union or the "E.U." The E.U. is a political and economic union made up of 28 European countries that was created following the end of the Second World War (“The E.U.,” n.d.). In the guidelines laid out by the

In 1999, ten European nations joined together to create an economic and monetary union known as the Eurozone. Countries, such as Germany, have thrived with the euro but nations, like Greece, have deteriorated since its adoption of the euro in 2001. The Eurozone was created in 1999 and currently consists of eighteen European nations united under the European Central Bank and all use the euro. The Eurozone has a one point six percent inflation rate and an eleven point six percent unemployment rate in 2014. Greece joined the Eurozone in 2001 and was the poorest European Union member at the time with a two point six percent inflation rate3 (James, 2000). Greece had a long economic history before joining the Eurozone. The economy flourished from 1960 to 1970 with low inflation and modernization and industrialization occurring. The market crash in the late 1970’s led Greece into a state of recession that the nation is still struggling with. Military failures, the PASOK party and the introduction of the euro have further tarnished Greece’s economic stability. The nation struggles with lack of competitiveness, high deficit, and inflation. Greece has many options like bailouts, rescue packages, and PPP to help dig it out of this recession. The best option is to abandon the Eurozone and go back to the drachma. Greece’s inflation and deficit are increasing more and more and loans and bailouts have not worked in the past. Leaving the Eurozone will allow Greece to restructure and rebuild

In October 2011, eurozone leaders meeting in Brussels agreed on a package of measures designed to prevent the collapse of member economies due to their spiralling debt. This included a proposal to write off 50% of Greek debt owed to private creditors, increasing the EFSF to about €1 trillion and requiring European banks to achieve 9% capitalisation.

The criticisms of the Eurozone keeps on rising from many people living in the region, as we can see early on this year Britain has voted for the Brexit. That leaves many people surprised, as well as leaving the economic stability volatile; the euro currency has been fluctuating in such a wide magnitude. Recently, the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned after the failure to persuade the country to come into constitutional reformation to leave the EU. That leaves many people ambivalent whether or not euro was a mistake.

European Union (EU) plays a major part in facing this Greek financial debt crisis, which requires a major restructuring in the economic sector and to tighten stronger integration among EU member country. The primary focal point is on restoring the sustainability of public finances and addressing other macroeconomic imbalances by fostering fiscal discipline. In addition, new rules are set to ensure stronger and more effective economic governance, particularly in the euro zone area, with adequate mechanisms to monitor progress and ensure enforcement.

In 1992 the Maastricht Treaty was developed by the European Union and signed by 12 member nations to create a common Euro Zone. This Euro zone uses a single currency called the Euro, in hopes that this currency will make transactions across all member nations’ trade and exchange easier. However, no one could have imagined how big of an impact the down fall of a nation’s deficit could have on the Euro Zone, until Greece signed the Maastricht treaty in 2002. When the Greek government came on to the Euro Zone, Greece’s budget deficit and spending habits came along with it too. In order to join the Euro zone, Greece prevented the Euro zone countries from knowing its true budget deficit, inflation, interest rates, and other monetary

Maastricht Treaty created the Euro. As per the treaty the economy deficit level of the country was already predefined for those countries who were willing to enter euro zone. But Greece entered the European union with a budget deficit that exceeded the allowed threshold. The Greek government borrowed

Greece knew they were in trouble and they had to receive money from an outside source to keep going as a country and also be able to pay back their creditors. However, Greece was unsure of how to. Greece was interested in paying their creditors back but were not interested in all of the austerity cuts the EU wanted Greece to implement because these cuts would upset some of Greece’s citizens. The EU’s top priority from these negotiations was to make sure Greece would reduce the amount of debt they would be taking on each year. The way the EU was going to make this happen was by making sure Greece implemented austerity cuts. The IMF was not really interested in making Greece implement austerity cuts. (IMF and EU

Due to the economic recession which started in 2008, several members of the European Union became historically known as PIIGS. These states include Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain. The reason why these countries were grouped together is the substantial instability of their economies, which was an evident problem in 2009. The reason why the five countries gained popularity is a serious concern within the EU, with regard to their national debts, especially for Greece. The latter country was involved in a controversial affair after allegedly falsifying its public financial data. In the year 2010, it was evident that the five states were in need of corrective action in order to regain their former financial stability.

Greece introduced the euro as their currency in 2001. They made the euro their national currency because Greece was in the middle of a recession and needed the financial help of the bank of the European Union. However, because Greece has a very early retirement age and very generous benefits they spend more money than they take in. They also pay their government workers very well. Also, when Greece switched to the euro they made a big mistake by paying large amounts of money in order to make the currency transfer. Greece didn’t have this money to pay out in the first place.

In September 2008, a major U.S. bank, Lehman Brothers, collapsed triggering an economic crisis in the United States and throughout the globe. What followed this event was five years of economic distress throughout the continent of Europe. The crisis that hit Europe likely stands as the greatest test to the European Union, and the common market and currency in particular. Greece and Ireland both experienced what Jay C. Shambaugh deemed “The Euro’s Three Crises”- a banking crisis, sovereign debt crisis, and a growth crisis. According to this model, poorly capitalized banks, large deficits and public debt, and slow economic growth plagued Irish and Greek economic and political systems . Consequently, both of these nations required bailouts