Greece was the first of the countries in the EU periphery engulfed in the so-called sovereign debt crisis that followed the crisis in the financial and banking sectors. . Our chapter begins with a brief discussion of the background to the crisis and explores how multiple and mutually re-enforcing causes created the ‘perfect storm’ conditions for its eruption. This is followed by a critical presentation of the key austerity and deregulatory measures adopted by the Greek government until the end of December 2011. Most of these measures were preconditions for the tranches of the ‘bail out’ loan agreed with the so-called ‘troika’ of lenders, the ad-hoc body comprising representatives of the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (ECB/EU/IMF). A discussion of the impact of austerity measures on the economy, welfare and society more generally, as well as our final reflections conclude the chapter. It is argued that the austerity measures and the deregulatory, pro-market, policy reforms prescribed by the ECB/EU/IMF and pursued by consecutive Greek governments have culminated into an anti-social policy that has done nothing to alleviate the crisis. Instead it has severely reduced socio-economic security, traumatized social cohesion and democratic governance and sunk the Greek economy into the deepest and more prolonged recession in recent memory with detrimental effects for the state’s finances and Greek society more generally.
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机译：希腊是欧盟外围国家中首个卷入所谓主权债务危机的国家，紧随其后的是金融和银行业危机。 。本章首先简要介绍了危机的背景，并探讨了多重原因和相互加强的原因如何为危机的爆发创造了“完美风暴”条件。接下来是对希腊政府直到2011年12月底采取的主要紧缩和放松管制措施的批判性介绍。这些措施中的大多数是与所谓的“三驾马车”商定的“纾困”贷款的前提条件作为贷方，该特设机构由欧洲中央银行，欧洲委员会和国际货币基金组织（ECB / EU / IMF）的代表组成。本章对紧缩措施对经济，福利和社会的影响进行了更广泛的讨论，以及我们的最终思考。有人认为，紧缩措施和欧洲央行/欧盟/国际货币基金组织规定的，放松管制的，有利于市场的政策改革，以及历届希腊政府都在推行，其最终演变成一项反社会政策，无助于缓解危机。相反，它严重地降低了社会经济安全，受损的社会凝聚力和民主治理，并使希腊经济陷入了最近记忆中最深，更长时间的衰退，对国家财政和整个希腊社会造成了不利影响。
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