Europe in turmoil: five years of economic crisis . Fresh from winning a general election, it announced that Greece. Photograph: Guardian. It was a wild autumn, five years ago - with the ripples of financial panic reaching as far as Dubai. Burj Khalifa, Dubai. Photograph: Alamy. But Europe was the crucible of our story. By spring 2. 01. 0, the eurozone was entering full- blown crisis mode, and the Guardian was starting to live- blog every twist and turn of it. In February, the situation turned violent as riot police fired on protesters in Athens during a one- day strike. But overturn the policy, they did not. A . By May 2. 01. Britain went to the polls in a nail- biter of a general election. Then tumbled the very next day! Investors recognised the true horror of Europe. Dublin signed up for years of austerity in return for . We are a small, resilient, proud people. Angry British tourists were among those left stranded at airports. But one lesson from the eurozone crisis is that protests on the street can. And in May 2. 01. Portugal became the third country to seek a rescue loan. We knew the script by now - - Brussels summits, where the debt crisis cast a shadow over plans to stabilise the eurozone. A domestic political crisis - Lisbon. And a credit rating agency, throwing fuel on the fire. As we wrote in March: Portugal. Photograph: Guardian. By this stage, euroscepticism was on the rise. In Finland, the True Finns had picked up 3. Finland. But the financial markets still looked like a more fearsome beast. And on August 4th 2. The FTSE 1. 00 has now officially closed, and the blue chip index has fallen 1. Cue a dramatic autumn. Greece now needed a second bailout, with its economy in recession and its government on the ropes. And this time, Europe was going to insist that private investors shared the pain. But arguments over the haircut that bondholders should take rumbled on for weeks. And overshadowing it all, Italy and Greece. And the mood was electric, with Italian MPs trading blows in Rome and Angela Merkel calling it the biggest crisis in decades. In a major boost for German leader Angela Merkel, the German parliament has voted overwhelmingly to expand the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), the eurozone. Silvio Berlusconi is arriving in Brussels with a 1. Announcing the enlargement of the bailout fund to $1. A Primer on the Greek Crisis. 2015 1) How did Greece get into such trouble? Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan. The economic crisis is expected.November 2. 01. 1 is a month seared into the memory of eurozone crisis combatants. Two elected leaders were replaced by technocrats. Having agreed a second bailout deal, laced with fresh austerity, G- Pap decided that it was only fair to give Greeks the chance to accept, or reject it. This passion for democracy went down badly with fellow EU leaders, gathered in Cannes for the G2.
And late that night, Papandreou. Finance minister Evangelos Venizelos forced the move in an early- morning speech, saying Greece. They are calling for his resignation instead. Papandreou may quit even if he wins. In Cannes, European countries came under real pressure from America to step up to the plate and shore up the eurozone. The summit (Silvio Berlusconi. At the moment it is looking more like a hay one than a concrete one. Photograph: Guardian. Greek PM wins confidence vote, November 2. Photograph: Guardian. He promptly quit the next day, triggering one of the most tense weeks in the eurozone. There, the national debt had climbed towards 1. Silvio Berlusconi bunga- bunga. Suddenly, 7% was on everyone. On Tuesday 8 November he dramatically lost his majority in a budget vote. Investors dumped Italian bonds, the Italian president met with Silvio, and the great survivor of Italian politics offered to quit. And in Italy, senators finally agreed an austerity package, paving the way for former European commissioner Mario Monti to become PM. Photograph: Guardian. But even then, there was more tension as Monti struggled to form a government; bond yields tore through that 7% mark on the . Photograph: Guardian. The installation of Monti as PM did, for a while, calm the eurozone, as did the news that the ECB was aggressively buying up Spanish and Italian bonds to push down yields. And there was time for further drama; another EU summit to . UK looking more isolated in Europe than for years.. Photograph: Guardian. And we headed off for Christmas, with Bank of England governor Mervyn King warning that . And the year began with record unemployment, weak growth, and the night of the credit rating downgrades. S& P wasn. Photograph: Guardian. But soon the focus returned to Greece, and its second bailout package. This, let the history books show, was the era of the all- night negotiations. On 2. 0 February, EU leaders gathered to decide whether Athens had done enough to receive its second bailout package, worth around . Photograph: Guardian. The leaders met, hugged, talked, and talked, late into the night while the press pack lingered (or snoozed). This is the press room: pic. VOoiw. B4w. The press bar stopped serving beer at 1. Thank goodness. But finally a breakthough.. Photograph: Guardian. As we wrote, bleary- eyed, that morning: Eurozone finance ministers have agreed the details of a . This will be achieved by private creditors taking a deeper cut on their existing Greek bonds, of 5. The European Central Bank will also contribute, by passing the profits from its Greek bondholdings onto the national central banks, who will then pass it onto Greece. It also appears that the Athens parliament plans to pass laws tomorrow to force losses onto bondholders who decline to take part in the . And in May, the electorate had their way - - turfing out French president Nicolas Sarkozy, and also failing to give any . He campaigned against unpopular austerity measures, on a platform of promoting growth as opposed to the mere elimination of debt. The move cast further doubt on Greece. And left- wing leader Alexis Tsipras was making the running, as we wrote on the 9th May: 8. Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the eurozone crisis. Today, the battle to form a new Greek government continues. Alexis Tsipras, leader of Coalition of the Radical Left party (Syriza), will use his mandate to attempt to reach a deal with other parties. But an agreement looks elusive, and it appears that another election will be held soon. Tsipras. Photograph: Guardian. The word of the day was . No chance, said Germany, not without political union and budget restraint. Photograph: Guardian. But without Germany. Syriza held the lead, and the talk across the City was that Grexit was a certainty. But it wasn. In the event, the right- wing New Democracy party came home first, hammering out a coalition with the rump of the Pasok party. Photograph: Guardian. And with Spain agreeing a rescue plan for its banking sector, a measure of calm was returning.. Angus Campbell, head of market analysis at Capital Spreads, commented: For now the two elephants in the room, namely Greece and Spain, have morphed into kittens following the Spanish bailout and newly formed Greek coalition today. Now investors are focusing on the prospect of more money being pumped into the system in a bid to prevent a slump in global growth. By July, Spain was feeling the heat, with bond yields surging over the 7% mark. We wrote: Rather worryingly, Spanish and Italian bond yields are back at pre- EU summit levels. The Spanish 1. 0- year yield has broken through the 7% danger mark again, up 2. The Italian equivalent has risen through 6%, another important level - up 5 bps at 6. And there were even rumours, wild and incorrect, that Finland might quit the euro. Photograph: Guardian. Protests in Spain, July 2. Photograph: Guardian. Rest of world: The Spanish patient. Decisively and unexpectedly. Draghi used a speech in London to declare that the euro was a bumblebee (it shouldn. Now it must become a real bee. Photograph: Guardian. Bamboozled? Photograph: Guardian. That was the prelude to Draghi. But the prospect of the ECB unleashing a . Mario Draghi had saved the eurozone. Of course, it wasn. Autumn 2. 01. 2 was punctuated by more signs that the eurozone economy was fragile, and arguments in Athens over whether Greece was meeting its bailout obligations. Spain remained tense too - - with riot police attacking protesters that autumn. Photograph: Guardian. But with Merkel. A general election created deadlock, with strong support for the radical M5. S party. The markets reacted with their customary poise. He had a rough time of it, eventually ousted by fellow leftist Matteo Renzi, who felt he would make a better fist of the reform process. He still might.. There were ructions elsewhere too that February; Bulgaria. But it was Cyprus which became the theatre for the latest act in the crisis that won. Its banks were in trouble, partly because they had taken haircuts on their investments in Greek bonds. And this was a gold- plated fiasco. One weekend, eurozone leaders agreed that Cyprus should be bailed out with . Cyprus was plunged into shock, banks were shuttered, and European savers suddenly feared that they would lose 1. Photograph: Guardian. Even Russian president Putin weighed in: ! RT @Carolin. CNBC: 'Unfair, Dangerous' Cyprus Deal Whacks Rich Russians http: //t. RV4. SOXOEr. G? Not really. That was just the start. In a wild week, MPs in Nicosia revolted, refusing to accept that every saver should pay a levy. Millions of euros were flown into Cyprus, while politicians tried desperately to find a solution. Even the church weighed in: The Archbishop of Cyprus urged Russians not to flee the country, while humble parishioners faced tough times. RT @cigolo: Cypriot president threatens resignation in bailout talks http: //t. UAl. V7z. N4. 0Q. Photograph: guardia. Oh the drama. But Cyprus pulled back from the abyss. Its second biggest bank would close. Heavy losses for those with over . One euro was no longer the same across the region. Photograph: Guardian. Caruso- Cabrera (@MCaruso. We've seen many of these today as they prepare to reopen the banks. Cameras galore #wsjeuropic. Ak. 95j. 85g. The banks reopened. The media melted away.
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