The Financial Crisis of Greece After 2008

Categories: Economy Greece Economic Crisis Politics

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Since 2008, Greece had to face one of the biggest problems in its history, the financial crisis. The Greek economic crisis turned attention on the country's vast public debt and high budget deficits. On 2 May 2010, the Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund agreed on a €110 billion bailout loan for Greece, conditional on compliance with the following points:

Implementation of austerity measures, to restore the fiscal balance.
Privatization of government assets worth €50 billion by the end of 2015.
Implementation of outlined structural reforms, to improve competitiveness and growth prospects.

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However, since the first rescue package proved insufficient, the leaders of Euro countries approved a second rescue package at on 21 July 2011.

Greece is slowly awakening from the economic coma and we're planning on even more reforms to boost our economy. The first one, concerns the cruise industry. Greek government has pledged to enact a measure that removes both the tax and the contract requirement for non-EU carriers which for many years were a significant obstacle for foreign tour operators to visit Greece.

Second is a reform on the pharmaceutical sector. Under a new law, pharmacies are limited to imposing a margin of 15% on inexpensive drugs, and far less on expensive therapies. Last but not least, we're planning a resort development since Greece is a popular touristic destination.

A new law provides two improvements. First, it reduces the requirement of two environmental impact statements to just one, cutting the approval time in half. Second, it allows developers to sell many of the apartments and homes in their resorts, instead of merely renting them out.

That change alone could make Greece a prime destination for retirees.

However, Greece's problems aren't all about debt. Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal are currently facing the severe problem of illegal migration.

For more than a decade Greece has been the main entry point for illegal immigrants and asylum seekers from Asia and Africa. The situation of Syrian refugees in particular has stirred up debate. In 2012, Greece arrested 8,000 Syrians for entering the country illegally. According to UN data, only two Syrians were granted asylum last year. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Greece's asylum system is inadequate and degrading. As a result, most EU states have ceased to deport refugees to Greece, despite the fact they are actually obliged to send asylum seekers back to the country where they first entered the EU (according to the to the 2003 EU regulation known as "Dublin II").

Warned German President Joachim Gauck after hundreds of people drowned off the coast of Lampedusa. "Protecting lives and granting refugees the chance to be heard is at the foundation of our legal and moral codes," he concluded that the EU interior ministers gathered in Luxembourg to discuss the consequences of the accident, which resulted in around 300 deaths. But despite heavy criticism, they couldn't manage to come to a decision about comprehensive change to European asylum policy.

The expectations of refugees coming to Europe are often not met. Many of them have to overcome lengthy asylum procedures or struggle with entrenched local prejudice. In some countries, they endure horrific living conditions in refugee camps, while in others they find themselves on the streets. Therefore, as a Southern Mediterranean country, we propose a new approach to a collective and humane solution to the migration problem, for example, each EU member state should agree to accept a certain number of refugees or introduce a new EU aid instrument to help North African and Middle Eastern countries cope with this problem.