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Greek becaumes a rebublic.
Formerly a monarchy, Greece is replaced by a parliamentary republic. The nominal head of state is the President of the Republic, who is elected by the Parliament for a five-year term. The Constitution, which consists of 120 articles, provides for a separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and grants extensive specific guarantees (further reinforced in 2001) of civil liberties and social rights. -
Greece joins the European Union.
Greece joins Europe convinced that national independence will be consolidated for all parties concerned within the framework of European solidarity; that democratic liberties will be strengthened; that economic expansion will accelerate and that, with the co-operation of all, social and economic progress will become a common asset. A united Europe will preserve and advance European culture. It is obvious that this culture faces the danger of decadence. -
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Greece in trouble
Greece was living beyond its means even before it joined the E.U. After it adopted the single currency, public spending soared. Public sector wages, for example, rose 50% between 1999 and 2007 - far faster than in most other euro zone countries. The government also ran up big debts paying for the 2004 Athens Olympics. After that its income spiraled out of control. When the global financial downturn hit - and Greece's hidden borrowings came to light - the country was ill-prepared to cope. -
The drachma is replaced by the Euro.
This happened when Greece entered the Euro Zone. This was a very risky decision for them because they would have to change their currency to a Euro. And they did this by completely replacing their old currency the Drachma. -
Greek labor issues
In a year with increasing labor strikes, the Greek parliament ends public-sector jobs for life and makes other changes to labor laws. Workers in public jobs would protest plans to privatize more jobs. -
Greece's credit rating is downgraded
Greece's credit rating is downgraded by Fitch (from A- to BBB+), Standard & Poor's (from A- to BBB+)and Moody's (from A1 to A2). In response to the looming fears of default, Prime Minister announces George Papandreou new spending cuts. -
Greek Debt Crisis starts
Years of unrestrained spending, cheap lending and failure to implement financial reforms left Greece badly exposed when the global economic downturn struck. This whisked away a curtain of partly fiddled statistics to reveal debt levels and deficits that exceeded limits set by the euro zone. -
What Has been Done to Help Greece
May 2010, the European Union and IMF provided 110bn euros ($140bn: £88bn) of bailout loans to Greece to help the government pay its creditors. However, it soon became apparent that this would not be enough, so a second, 130bn-euro bailout was agreed earlier this year.As well as these two loans, which are made in stages, the vast majority of Greece's private-sector creditors agreed to write off about three-quarters of the debts owed to them by Athens. They took away the loans and replaced them. -
Bailout loan for Greece
Eurozone leaders consequently agreed to offer a second €130 billion bailout loan for Greece, conditional not only the implementation of another austerity package (combined with the continued demands for privatisation and structural reforms outlined in the first programme), but also that all private creditors holding Greek government bonds should sign a deal accepting lower interest rates and a 53.5% face value loss. -
Second Bailout
The second bailout was a 130bn-euro one and was agreed later in 2011. As well as these two loans, which are made in stages, the vast majority of Greece's private-sector creditors agreed to write off about three-quarters of the debts owed to them by Athens. They took away the loans and replaced them with ones with a lower intrest rate. -
Greece is trying to Fix the problem
At this point Greece is currently trying to fix their debt problem. But this will not be easy for them. They will first have to come out of the Europe Zone then they would either have to raise the taxes. But the same time the government would have to stop spending money on things that Greece doesn’t need. Despite Greece approving its tough budget for 2013, the next tranche was not released immediately as there was no agreement among Greece's lenders on how to make the country's debt sustainable.
