143-401: Drachmi Greek Democratic Movement Five Stars (abbreviated as: Drachma Five Star ) was a Greek eurosceptic political party established on May 1, 2013 by Theodore Katsanevas (1947-2021), a one-time member of PASOK and son-in-law of Andreas Papandreou , with a primary target for Greece to abandon the euro and to return to the drachma . The purpose of the party was for Greece to abandon
286-615: A December 2011 referendum on the new bailout plan, but had to back down amidst strong pressure from EU partners, who threatened to withhold an overdue €6 billion loan payment that Greece needed by mid-December. On 10 November 2011, Papandreou resigned following an agreement with the New Democracy party and the Popular Orthodox Rally to appoint non-MP technocrat Lucas Papademos as new prime minister of an interim national union government , with responsibility for implementing
429-548: A bailout programme. Its rescue package from the ESM was earmarked for a bank recapitalisation fund and did not include financial support for the government itself. The crisis had significant adverse economic effects and labour market effects, with unemployment rates in Greece and Spain reaching 27%, and was blamed for subdued economic growth, not only for the entire eurozone but for the entire European Union. The austerity policies implemented as
572-399: A crisis of confidence has emerged with the widening of bond yield spreads and risk insurance on CDS between these countries and other EU member states , most importantly Germany. By the end of 2011, Germany was estimated to have made more than €9 billion out of the crisis as investors flocked to safer but near zero interest rate German federal government bonds ( bunds ). By July 2012 also
715-522: A default by the end of November, the Greek parliament passed a new austerity package worth €18.8bn, including a "labour market reform" and "mid term fiscal plan 2013–16". In return, the Eurogroup agreed on the following day to lower interest rates and prolong debt maturities and to provide Greece with additional funds of around €10bn for a debt-buy-back programme. The latter allowed Greece to retire about half of
858-430: A distinction described by Leruth as being one that is "quite subtle but should not be ignored" given the association of the term Euroscepticism with "European disintegration". Leruth describes Eurorealism as "a pragmatic, anti-federalist, and flexible vision of European integration where the principle of subsidiarity prevails, aiming to reform the current institutional framework to extend the role of national parliaments in
1001-708: A far-right party which was a member of the Alliance for Peace and Freedom in the European Parliament. The second one is National Front , also a far right party which criticizes the European bureaucracy, intends to guarantee and preserve national independence and freedom in a liberated Europe; it also reaffirms the Christian roots of Europe. The third one is the People's Party , classified as right or extreme right. In its program for
1144-399: A high percentage of debt was in the hands of foreign creditors, as in the case of Greece and Portugal. The states that were adversely affected by the crisis faced a strong rise in interest rate spreads for government bonds as a result of investor concerns about their future debt sustainability. Four eurozone states had to be rescued by sovereign bailout programs, which were provided jointly by
1287-413: A high public debt to GDP ratio (which, until then, was relatively stable for several years, at just above 100% of GDP, as calculated after all corrections). Thus, the country appeared to lose control of its public debt to GDP ratio, which already reached 127% of GDP in 2009. In contrast, Italy was able (despite the crisis) to keep its 2009 budget deficit at 5.1% of GDP, which was crucial, given that it had
1430-548: A historically high level since 1983. On the other hand, more Europeans (27%) were uncertain and saw the EU as "neither a good thing nor a bad thing", an increase in 19 countries. Despite the overall positive attitude towards the EU but in line with the uncertainty expressed by a growing number of Europeans, the feeling that things were not going in the right direction in both the EU and in their own countries had increased to 50% on EU average since September 2018. The Eurobarometer 93.1 survey
1573-403: A lack of credible commitments to provide bailouts to banks, incentivized risky financial transactions by banks. The detailed causes of the crisis varied from country to country. In several countries, private debts arising from a property bubble were transferred to sovereign debt as a result of banking system bailouts and government responses to slowing economies post-bubble. European banks own
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#17330850806991716-525: A part of their empire and I don't want that." The Czech president Václav Klaus rejected the term Euroscepticism for its purported negative undertones, saying at a meeting in April 2012 that the expressions for a Eurosceptic and their opponent should be "a Euro-realist" and someone who is "Euro-naïve", respectively. François Asselineau of the French Popular Republican Union has criticised
1859-480: A possible effect of media reports . Consequently, Greece was "punished" by the markets which increased borrowing rates, making it impossible for the country to finance its debt since early 2010. Despite the drastic upwards revision of the forecast for the 2009 budget deficit in October 2009, Greek borrowing rates initially rose rather slowly. By April 2010 it was apparent that the country was becoming unable to borrow from
2002-527: A public debt to GDP ratio comparable to Greece's. In addition, being a member of the Eurozone, Greece had essentially no autonomous monetary policy flexibility . Finally, there was an effect of controversies about Greek statistics (due the aforementioned drastic budget deficit revisions which led to an increase in the calculated value of the Greek public debt by about 10% , a public debt-to-GDP ratio of about 100% until 2007), while there have been arguments about
2145-456: A result of the crisis also produced a sharp rise in poverty levels and a significant increase in income inequality across Southern Europe. It had a major political impact on the ruling governments in 10 out of 19 eurozone countries, contributing to power shifts in Greece, Ireland, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia, Belgium, and the Netherlands as well as outside of the eurozone in
2288-400: A result of the improved economic outlook, the cost of 10-year government bonds has fallen from its record high at 12% in mid July 2011 to below 4% in 2013 (see the graph "Long-term Interest Rates"). On 26 July 2012, for the first time since September 2010, Ireland was able to return to the financial markets, selling over €5 billion in long-term government debt, with an interest rate of 5.9% for
2431-620: A rule of the Maastricht Treaty ) to 12.7%, almost immediately after PASOK won the October 2009 Greek national elections . Large upwards revision of budget deficit forecasts were not limited to Greece: for example, in the United States forecast for the 2009 budget deficit was raised from $ 407 billion projected in the 2009 fiscal year budget, to $ 1.4 trillion , while in the United Kingdom there
2574-683: A series of financial support measures such as the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in early 2010 and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in late 2010. The ECB also contributed to solve the crisis by lowering interest rates and providing cheap loans of more than one trillion euro in order to maintain money flows between European banks. On 6 September 2012, the ECB calmed financial markets by announcing free unlimited support for all eurozone countries involved in
2717-457: A significant amount of sovereign debt, such that concerns regarding the solvency of banking systems or sovereigns are negatively reinforcing. The onset of crisis was in late 2009 when the Greek government disclosed that its budget deficits were far higher than previously thought. Greece called for external help in early 2010, receiving an EU–IMF bailout package in May 2010. European nations implemented
2860-490: A slightly different manner. In 2009, a National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) was created to acquire large property-related loans from the six banks at a market-related "long-term economic value". Irish banks had lost an estimated 100 billion euros, much of it related to defaulted loans to property developers and homeowners made in the midst of the property bubble, which burst around 2007. The economy collapsed during 2008. Unemployment rose from 4% in 2006 to 14% by 2010, while
3003-663: A sovereign state bailout/precautionary programme from EFSF/ESM, through some yield lowering Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT). Ireland and Portugal received EU-IMF bailouts In November 2010 and May 2011, respectively. In March 2012, Greece received its second bailout. Both Cyprus received rescue packages in June 2012. Return to economic growth and improved structural deficits enabled Ireland and Portugal to exit their bailout programmes in July 2014. Greece and Cyprus both managed to partly regain market access in 2014. Spain never officially received
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#17330850806993146-473: A support for the existence of, and membership of, a form of EU but with opposition to specific EU policies, or in Taggart's and Szczerbiak's words, "where there is NOT a principled objection to European integration or EU membership but where concerns on one (or a number) of policy areas lead to the expression of qualified opposition to the EU, or where there is a sense that 'national interest' is currently at odds with
3289-675: A tripartite committee formed by the European Commission , the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (EC, ECB and IMF), offered Greece a second bailout loan worth €130 billion in October 2011 ( Second Economic Adjustment Programme ), but with the activation being conditional on implementation of further austerity measures and a debt restructure agreement. Surprisingly, the Greek prime minister George Papandreou first answered that call by announcing
3432-411: A whole, those with a positive image of the EU were down from a high of 52% in 2007 to 37% in autumn 2015; this compares with 23% with a negative image of the EU, and 38% with a neutral image. About 43% of Europeans thought things were "going in the wrong direction" in the EU, compared with 23% who thought things were going "in the right direction" (11% "don't know"). About 32% of EU citizens tend to trust
3575-483: A year where the seasonal adjusted industrial output ended 28.4% lower than in 2005, and with 111,000 Greek companies going bankrupt (27% higher than in 2010). As a result, Greeks have lost about 40% of their purchasing power since the start of the crisis, they spend 40% less on goods and services, and the seasonal adjusted unemployment rate grew from 7.5% in September 2008 to a record high of 27.9% in June 2013, while
3718-455: Is a neoliberal organisation serving the big business elite at the expense of the working class , that it is responsible for austerity , and drives privatization . Euroscepticism is found in groups across the political spectrum , both left-wing and right-wing , and is often found in populist parties. Although they criticise the EU for many of the same reasons, Eurosceptic left-wing populists focus more on economic issues, such as
3861-609: Is a hard Eurosceptic. Followers of Eurosceptic Attack tore down and trampled the European flag on 3 March 2016 at a meeting of the party in the Bulgarian capital Sofia , dedicated to the commemoration of the 138th anniversary of the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire . In the 2019 European Parliament election , Bulgaria remained overwhelmingly pro-EU with the ruling centre-right Gerb party winning with 31%, against 26% for
4004-515: Is a socially conservative party that has always held Eurosceptic elements. In 2011 the party openly supported leaving the eurozone , and in 2012 it announced that it supported a full withdrawal from the European Union. The party has also called upon a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. In polls it generally received around 10–15%, although in one state it did receive 45% of the vote in 2009. Since
4147-593: Is a soft Eurosceptic party in the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. Before 2010, the N-VA was pro-European and supported the idea of a democratic European confederation, but has since altered this policy to a more sceptical stance on further European integration and now calls for more democratic transparency within the EU, changes to the EU's common asylum policy and economic reforms to the Eurozone . The N-VA has obtained 26.8% of
4290-637: Is relatively low, as Belgium is predominantly Europeanist . In 2019, Vlaams Belang stated in its program for the 2019 European Parliament election that it opposes the creation of a European state, would like to change the Economic and Monetary Union of the EU , and to end the Schengen Area , and refuses the accession of Turkey to the EU. More widely, the euro-sceptic arguments of the Vlaams Belang are based on four pillars: The New Flemish Alliance (N-VA)
4433-609: Is represented by 32 MEPs from nine countries. The elections of 2014 saw a big anti-establishment vote in favour of Eurosceptic parties, which took around a quarter of the seats available. Those that came first their national elections included: UKIP in the UK (the first time since 1906 that a party other than Labour or the Conservatives had won a national vote), the National Front in France,
Drachmi Greek Democratic Movement Five Stars - Misplaced Pages Continue
4576-516: Is sentiment or policies in opposition to Europe . For example, American exceptionalism in the United States has long led to criticism of European domestic policy , such as the size of the welfare state in European countries, and foreign policy , such as European countries that did not support the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq . Some scholars consider the gradual difference in terminology between hard and soft Euroscepticism inadequate to accommodate
4719-468: Is the number of and which policies a party opposes, then the question arises of how many must a party oppose and which ones should a party oppose that makes them hard Eurosceptic instead of soft. According to Taggart and Szczerbiak, hard Euroscepticism, or anti-EU-ism, is "a principled opposition to the EU and European integration and therefore can be seen in parties who think that their countries should withdraw from membership, or whose policies towards
4862-559: Is the right-wing Vlaams Belang which is active in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, however the left-wing PTB-PVDA also opposes the EU on many issues, primarily austerity and social policy. In the 2014 European Parliament election , Vlaams Belang lost over half of its previous vote share, polling 4.3% (down 5.5%) and losing 1 of its 2 members of the European Parliament. Despite the presence of Eurosceptic parties in Belgium, their weight
5005-606: Is to say paying out their private creditors with new debt issued by its new group of public creditors known as the Troika. The shift in liabilities from European banks to European taxpayers has been staggering. One study found that the public debt of Greece to foreign governments, including debt to the EU/IMF loan facility and debt through the Eurosystem, increased from €47.8bn to €180.5bn (+132,7bn) between January 2010 and September 2011, while
5148-518: Is vocally Eurosceptic is the Human Shield that won 5 out of 151 seats at the 2016 parliamentary election . Their position is generally considered to waver between hard and soft Euroscepticism; it requests thorough reform of the EU so that all member states would be perfectly equal. In the 2019 European Parliament election , the Human Shield gained its first seat in the European Parliament with 6% of
5291-454: The 2007–2008 financial crisis ), it was still one of the fastest growing in the eurozone, with a public debt-to-GDP that did not exceed 104%, but it was associated with a large structural deficit . As the world economy was affected by the 2007–2008 financial crisis , Greece was hit especially hard because its main industries— shipping and tourism —were especially sensitive to changes in the business cycle. The government spent heavily to keep
5434-454: The 2016 United States presidential election revealed that the surprise victory of Donald Trump caused an increase in the popularity of the EU in Europe. The increase was strongest among the political right and among respondents who perceived their country as economically struggling. A survey carried out in April 2018 for the European Parliament by Kantar Public consulting found that support for
5577-917: The Brexit Party in the UK (which was only launched on 12 April 2019 by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage ), the National Rally of France (formerly the National Front party until June 2018), Fidesz in Hungary, Lega in Italy, and Law and Justice in Poland. There were also notable falls in support for the Danish People's Party (previously topped the 2014 European election). Whilst Vox got elected with 3 seats, Spain's first Eurosceptic party and Belgium's Vlaams Belang rallied to gain second place after its poor 2014 result. In
5720-814: The European Court of Human Rights . It declares itself against the Global Compact for Migration . The last one is the Parti libertarien . In early 2019, the party aims to reduce the powers of the European Commission, to abolish the Common Agricultural Policy , to abandon common defense projects, to simplify the exit procedure of the European Union , to reject federalism and to forbid the European Union to direct economic, fiscal or social policy, Finally,
5863-581: The European debt crisis and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership , while Eurosceptic right-wing populists focus more on nationalism and immigration, such as the 2015 European migrant crisis . The rise in radical-right parties since the 2000s is strongly linked to a rise in Euroscepticism. Eurobarometer surveys of EU citizens show that trust in the EU and its institutions declined strongly from 2007 to 2015. In that period, it
Drachmi Greek Democratic Movement Five Stars - Misplaced Pages Continue
6006-460: The Greek government-debt crisis hereby is forecast officially to end in 2015, many of its negative repercussions (e.g. a high unemployment rate) are forecast still to be felt during many of the subsequent years. During the second half of 2014, the Greek government again negotiated with the Troika. The negotiations were this time about how to comply with the programme requirements, to ensure activation of
6149-483: The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), along with establishment of a new precautionary Enhanced Conditions Credit Line (ECCL) issued by the European Stability Mechanism . The ECCL instrument is often used as a follow-up precautionary measure, when a state has exited its sovereign bailout programme, with transfers only taking place if adverse financial/economic circumstances materialize, but with
6292-711: The International Monetary Fund and the European Commission , with additional support at the technical level from the European Central Bank . Together these three international organisations representing the bailout creditors became nicknamed "the Troika ". To fight the crisis some governments have focused on raising taxes and lowering expenditures, which contributed to social unrest and significant debate among economists, many of whom advocate greater deficits when economies are struggling. Especially in countries where budget deficits and sovereign debts have increased sharply,
6435-924: The People's Party in Denmark and Syriza in Greece. Second places were taken by Sinn Féin in Ireland and the Five Star Movement in Italy. Herman Van Rompuy , the President of the European Council , agreed following the election to re-evaluate the economic area's agenda and to launch consultations on future policy areas with the 28 member states. The elections of 2019 saw the centre-left and centre-right parties suffer significant losses including losing their overall majority, while green , pro-EU liberal, and some Eurosceptic right wing parties saw significant gains. Those that came first in their national elections included:
6578-641: The Swiss franc . In September 2011 the Swiss National Bank surprised currency traders by pledging that "it will no longer tolerate a euro-franc exchange rate below the minimum rate of 1.20 francs", effectively weakening the Swiss franc. This is the biggest Swiss intervention since 1978. Despite sovereign debt having risen substantially in only a few eurozone countries, with the three most affected countries Greece, Ireland and Portugal collectively only accounting for 6% of
6721-689: The United Kingdom (53%), and Italy (44%). When asked which issues should be a priority for the European Parliament, survey respondents picked terrorism as the most pressing topic of discussion, ahead of youth unemployment and immigration. Not all countries shared the same priorities. Immigration topped the list in Italy (66% of citizens surveyed considered it a priority issue), Malta (65%), and Hungary (62%) but fighting youth unemployment and support for economic growth were top concerns in Spain , Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, and Croatia . Social protection of citizens
6864-660: The Workers' Party of Belgium is an electoral and unitary party. It also intends to revise the European treaties considered too liberal. One of the Party's currencies is "The left that stings, against the Europe of money". Parties with mainly Eurosceptic views are NFSB , Attack , and VMRO – BND , which is a member of the Eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists Group . Bulgaria's Minister of Finance, Simeon Djankov , stated in 2011 that ERM II membership to enter
7007-448: The elections of 2024 , 24 EU countries elected at least one member of a Eurosceptic group ( European Conservatives and Reformists Group , Patriots for Europe or Europe of Sovereign Nations ). The three exceptions were Ireland , Malta and Slovenia . The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), established in 1956, is a right-wing populist party that mainly attracts support from young people and workers. In 1989, it changed its stance over
7150-653: The euro in favour of the drachma . The five stars symbolise "the overturn of the Memorandum, the return to the drachma, robust growth, national dignity and social justice", but they also clearly state a connection to the Italian party Five Star Movement of the comic actor Beppe Grillo and the Italian press refer to Theodoros Katsanevas as "the Greek Beppe Grillo". The party states that it supports "patriotic socialism". On 15 July 2013, Nikitas Baritakis, former Secretary of
7293-464: The youth unemployment rate rose from 22.0% to as high as 62%. Youth unemployment ratio hit 16.1 per cent in 2012. Overall the share of the population living at "risk of poverty or social exclusion" did not increase notably during the first two years of the crisis. The figure was measured to 27.6% in 2009 and 27.7% in 2010 (only being slightly worse than the EU27-average at 23.4%), but for 2011
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#17330850806997436-448: The €62 billion in debt that Athens owes private creditors, thereby shaving roughly €20 billion off that debt. This should bring Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio down to 124% by 2020 and well below 110% two years later. Without agreement the debt-to-GDP ratio would have risen to 188% in 2013. The Financial Times special report on the future of the European Union argues that the liberalisation of labour markets has allowed Greece to narrow
7579-454: The 1992 Maastricht Treaty , governments pledged to limit their deficit spending and debt levels. However, some of the signatories, including Germany and France, failed to stay within the confines of the Maastricht criteria and turned to securitising future government revenues to reduce their debts and/or deficits, sidestepping best practice and ignoring international standards. This allowed
7722-472: The 2017 election, it has 0/183 National Council seats, 0/62 Federal Council seats, and 0/19 European Parliament seats. Team Stronach , established in 2012, has campaigned to reform the European Union, as well as to replace the euro with an Austrian Euro. In 2012, it regularly received 8–10% support in national polls. Politicians from many different parties (including the Social Democratic Party and
7865-584: The 5-year bonds and 6.1% for the 8-year bonds at sale. In December 2013, after three years on financial life support, Ireland finally left the EU/IMF bailout programme, although it retained a debt of €22.5 billion to the IMF; in August 2014, early repayment of €15 billion was being considered, which would save the country €375 million in surcharges. Despite the end of the bailout the country's unemployment rate remains high and public sector wages are still around 20% lower than at
8008-628: The BZÖ) as well as previous independents switched their allegiances to the new party upon creation. In two local elections in March 2013, it won 11% of the vote in Carinthia , and 10% of the vote in Lower Austria . It dissolved in 2017. Ewald Stadler , a former member of FPÖ (and later of BZÖ) was very Eurosceptic, but in 2011 became a member of the European Parliament due to the Lisbon Treaty. Before Stadler accepted
8151-433: The Communications Sector Commission withdrew from PASOK and became member of the party Drachma Five Star while earlier that month there had been a meeting of the Drachma Five Stars with the Patriotic Social Movement where they found identification of several positions. In September 2013, Dr. Bernd Lucke , leader of the Alternative for Germany party, said that they will gradually make alliances with like-minded parties, like
8294-429: The ECB's TARGET2 system. The Deutsche Bundesbank alone may have to write off €27bn. To prevent this from happening, the Troika (EC, IMF and ECB) eventually agreed in February 2012 to provide a second bailout package worth €130 billion , conditional on the implementation of another harsh austerity package that would reduce Greek expenditure by €3.3bn in 2012 and another €10bn in 2013 and 2014. Then, in March 2012,
8437-429: The EU are tantamount to being opposed to the whole project of European integration as it is currently conceived". The Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group in the European Parliament (2014–2019) displayed hard Euroscepticism, but following the 2019 EU elections the group was disbanded due to too few members, as its largest member, the British Brexit Party , withdrew ahead of the United Kingdom's formal exit from
8580-550: The EU as an institution, and about 55% do not tend to trust it (13% "don't know"). Distrust of the EU was highest in Greece (81%), Cyprus (72%), Austria (65%), France (65%), the United Kingdom (UK) and the Czech Republic (both 63%). Overall, more respondents distrusted their own government (66%) than they distrusted the EU (55%). Distrust of national government was highest in Greece (82%), Slovenia (80%), Portugal (79%), Cyprus (76%), and France (76%). A Eurobarometer survey carried out four days prior to and six days after
8723-492: The EU as unreformable ( anti-European Unionism , anti-EUism , or hard Euroscepticism ). The opposite of Euroscepticism is known as pro-Europeanism . The main drivers of Euroscepticism have been beliefs that integration undermines national sovereignty and the nation state , that the EU is elitist and lacks democratic legitimacy and transparency , that it is too bureaucratic and wasteful, that it encourages high levels of immigration , or perceptions that it
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#17330850806998866-622: The EU has risen in most EU countries as a result of falling unemployment rates and the end of the migrant crisis. A post- 2019 election Eurobarometer survey showed that 68% of citizens support the EU, the highest level since 1983; however, sentiment that things are not going in the right direction in the EU had increased to 50%. Trust in the EU had increased significantly at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with levels varying across member states. The main reasons for Euroscepticism include beliefs that: There can be considered to be several different types of Eurosceptic thought, which differ in
9009-465: The EU itself pays to borrow from financial markets. The Euro Plus Monitor report from November 2011 attests to Ireland's vast progress in dealing with its financial crisis, expecting the country to stand on its own feet again and finance itself without any external support from the second half of 2012 onwards. According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research , Ireland's export-led recovery "will gradually pull its economy out of its trough". As
9152-541: The EU to Euroscepticism. It opposed Austria joining the EU in 1994, and opposed the introduction of the euro in 1998. The party would like to leave the EU if it threatens to develop into a country , or if Turkey joins. The FPÖ received 20–27% of the national vote in the 1990s, and more recently received 18% in 2008. Following the 2017 Austrian legislative election , it has 51/183 National Council seats, 16/62 Federal Council seats, and 4/19 European Parliament seats. The Bündnis Zukunft Österreich (BZÖ), established in 2005,
9295-499: The EU was "the highest score ever measured since 1983". Support for the EU was up in 26 out of 28 EU countries, the exceptions being Germany and the UK, where support had dropped by about 2% since the previous survey. Almost half (48%) of the 27,601 EU citizens surveyed agreed that their voice counted in the EU, up from 37% in 2016, whereas 46% disagreed with this statement. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents felt that their country had benefited from EU membership and 60% said that being part of
9438-472: The EU's trajectory." Both the European Conservatives and Reformists Group , dominated by the right-wing Polish party Law and Justice , and the European United Left–Nordic Green Left , which is an alliance of the left-wing parties in the European Parliament, display soft Euroscepticism. The European Conservatives and Reformist Group does not itself use the descriptions Euroscepticism or soft Euroscepticism and instead describes its position as one of Eurorealism,
9581-568: The EU. Some hard Eurosceptics regard their position as pragmatic rather than in principle. Additionally, Tony Benn , a left-wing Labour Party MP who fought against European integration in 1975 by opposing membership of the European Communities in that year's referendum on the issue , emphasised his opposition to xenophobia and his support of democracy , saying: "My view about the European Union has always been not that I am hostile to foreigners, but that I am in favour of democracy. ... I think they're building an empire there, they want us to be
9724-480: The Euro zone would be postponed until after the Eurozone crisis had stabilised. In the 2014 European Parliament election Bulgaria remained overwhelmingly pro-EU, with the Eurosceptic Attack party receiving 3% of the vote, down 9%, with the splinter group National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria taking 3; neither party secured any MEPs. A coalition between VMRO – BND and Bulgaria Without Censorship secured an MEP position for Angel Dzhambazki from IMRO, who
9867-399: The Euro-zone. Due to a delayed reform schedule and a worsened economic recession, the new government immediately asked the Troika to be granted an extended deadline from 2015 to 2017 before being required to restore the budget into a self-financed situation; which in effect was equal to a request of a third bailout package for 2015–16 worth €32.6bn of extra loans. On 11 November 2012, facing
10010-402: The European election of 2019 the People's Party proposes to abolish the European Commission , reduce the number of European parliamentarians and fight against the worker-posted directive. For this party, the EU must be led by a president elected by universal suffrage with clear but limited competences. It also wants to renegotiate the European Union treaties, restrict the judicial activism of
10153-417: The FPÖ came 3rd with 17.2% of the vote which was only slightly down on 2014 despite a scandal allegedly promising public contracts to a woman posing as a Russian backer. This precipitated the collapse of the ruling coalition and a new election being called. According to Eurostat , in the fall of 2018, 44% of Belgians stated that they did not trust the European Union . The main Eurosceptic party in Belgium
10296-687: The FPÖ increased its vote to 19.7% (up 7.0%), gaining 2 new MEPs, making a total of 4; the party came third, behind the ÖVP and the SPÖ. EU-STOP (the electoral alliance of the EU Withdrawal Party and the Neutral Free Austria Federation ) polled 2.8%, gaining no seats, and the Reform Conservatives 1.2%, with Team Stronach putting up no candidates. In the 2019 European Parliament election ,
10439-514: The Fifth European Parliament and ranked groups, concluding: "Towards the top of the figure are the more pro-European parties (PES, EPP-ED, and ALDE), whereas towards the bottom of the figure are the more anti-European parties (EUL/NGL, G/EFA, UEN and EDD)." In 2004, 37 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the UK, Poland , Denmark and Sweden founded a new European Parliament group called " Independence and Democracy " from
10582-441: The Greek bailout program was aimed at rescuing the private European banks – mainly from France and Germany. A number of IMF Executive Board members from India, Brazil, Argentina, Russia, and Switzerland criticized this in an internal memorandum, pointing out that Greek debt would be unsustainable. However their French, German and Dutch colleagues refused to reduce the Greek debt or to make (their) private banks pay. In mid May 2012,
10725-446: The Greek economy, with return of a government structural surplus in 2012, return of real GDP growth in 2014, and a decline of the unemployment rate in 2015, it was possible for the Greek government to return to the bond market during the course of 2014, for the purpose of fully funding its new extra financing gaps with additional private capital. A total of €6.1bn was received from the sale of three-year and five-year bonds in 2014, and
10868-406: The Greek fiscal budget, while most of the money went to French and German banks (In June 2010, France's and Germany's foreign claims vis-a-vis Greece were $ 57bn and $ 31bn respectively. German banks owned $ 60bn of Greek, Portuguese, Irish and Spanish government debt and $ 151bn of banks' debt of these countries). According to a leaked document, dated May 2010, the IMF was fully aware of the fact that
11011-555: The Greek government accounts. Much of the rest went straight into refinancing the old stock of Greek government debt (originating mainly from the high general government deficits being run in previous years), which was mainly held by private banks and hedge funds by the end of 2009. According to LSE, "more than 80% of the rescue package" is going to refinance the expensive old maturing Greek government debt towards private creditors (mainly private banks outside Greece), replacing it with new debt to public creditors on more favourable terms, that
11154-416: The Greek government did finally default on parts of its debt - as there was a new law passed by the government so that private holders of Greek government bonds (banks, insurers and investment funds) would "voluntarily" accept a bond swap with a 53.5% nominal write-off, partly in short-term EFSF notes, partly in new Greek bonds with lower interest rates and the maturity prolonged to 11–30 years (independently of
11297-407: The Greek government now plans to cover its forecast financing gap for 2015 with additional sales of seven-year and ten-year bonds in 2015. The latest recalculation of the seasonally adjusted quarterly GDP figures for the Greek economy revealed that it had been hit by three distinct recessions in the turmoil of the 2007–2008 financial crisis : Greece experienced positive economic growth in each of
11440-452: The IMF official who heads the bailout mission in Greece, stated that "in structural terms, Greece is more than halfway there". In June 2013, Equity index provider MSCI reclassified Greece as an emerging market, citing failure to qualify on several criteria for market accessibility. Both of the latest bailout programme audit reports, released independently by the European Commission and IMF in June 2014, revealed that even after transfer of
11583-415: The Netherlands, Austria, and Finland benefited from zero or negative interest rates. Looking at short-term government bonds with a maturity of less than one year the list of beneficiaries also includes Belgium and France. While Switzerland (and Denmark) equally benefited from lower interest rates, the crisis also harmed its export sector due to a substantial influx of foreign capital and the resulting rise of
11726-458: The South was incentivized to borrow because interest rates were very low. Over time, this led to the accumulation of deficits in the South, primarily by private economic actors. A lack of fiscal policy coordination among eurozone member states contributed to imbalanced capital flows in the eurozone, while a lack of financial regulatory centralization or harmonization among eurozone states, coupled with
11869-429: The Troika calculations were less optimistic and returned a not covered financing gap at €2.5bn (being required to be covered by additional austerity measures). As the Greek government insisted their calculations were more accurate than those presented by the Troika, they submitted an unchanged fiscal budget bill on 21 November, to be voted for by the parliament on 7 December. The Eurogroup was scheduled to meet and discuss
12012-675: The UK, the Eurosceptic UKIP achieved second place in the election, finishing ahead of the governing Labour Party, and the British National Party (BNP) won its first-ever two MEPs. Although new members joined the ID group from Greece and the Netherlands , it was unclear whether the group would reform in the new parliament. The ID group did reform, as the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) and
12155-426: The United Kingdom. The eurozone crisis resulted from the structural problem of the eurozone and a combination of complex factors. There is a consensus that the root of the eurozone crisis lay in a balance-of-payments crisis (a sudden stop of foreign capital into countries that were dependent on foreign lending), and that this crisis was worsened by the fact that states could not resort to devaluation (reductions in
12298-537: The accumulation of deficits in the South, primarily by private economic actors. Comparative political economy explains the fundamental roots of the European crisis in varieties of national institutional structures of member countries (north vs. south), which conditioned their asymmetric development trends over time and made the union susceptible to external shocks. Imperfections in the Eurozone's governance construction to react effectively exacerbated macroeconomic divergence. Eurozone member states could have alleviated
12441-410: The assistance of other eurozone countries, the European Central Bank (ECB), or the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The eurozone crisis was caused by a sudden stop of the flow of foreign capital into countries that had substantial current account deficits and were dependent on foreign lending. The crisis was worsened by the inability of states to resort to devaluation (reductions in the value of
12584-542: The bloc was a good thing, as opposed to 12% who felt the opposite. At the height of the EU's financial and economic crises in 2011, just 47% had been of the view that EU membership was a good thing. Support for EU membership was greatest in Malta (93%), Ireland (91%), Lithuania (90%), Poland (88%), Luxembourg (88%), Estonia (86%), and Denmark (84%), and lowest in Greece (57%), Bulgaria (57%), Cyprus (56%), Austria (54%),
12727-459: The combined exposure of foreign banks to (public and private) Greek entities was reduced from well over €200bn in 2009 to around €80bn (−€120bn) by mid-February 2012. As of 2015 , 78% of Greek debt is owed to public sector institutions, primarily the EU. According to a study by the European School of Management and Technology only €9.7bn or less than 5% of the first two bailout programs went to
12870-467: The cost-competitiveness gap with other southern eurozone countries by approximately 50% over the past two years. This has been achieved primary through wage reductions, though businesses have reacted positively. The opening of product and service markets is proving tough because interest groups are slowing reforms. The biggest challenge for Greece is to overhaul the tax administration with a significant part of annually assessed taxes not paid. Poul Thomsen,
13013-492: The countries being most at risk and various policy measures taken by EU leaders and the ECB (see below), financial stability in the eurozone improved significantly and interest rates fell steadily. This also greatly diminished contagion risk for other eurozone countries. As of October 2012 only 3 out of 17 eurozone countries, namely Greece, Portugal, and Cyprus still battled with long-term interest rates above 6%. By early January 2013, successful sovereign debt auctions across
13156-414: The crisis and impossibility to form a new government after elections and the possible victory by the anti-austerity axis led to new speculations Greece would have to leave the eurozone shortly. This phenomenon became known as "Grexit" and started to govern international market behaviour. The centre-right's narrow victory in 17 June election gave hope that Greece would honour its obligations and stay in
13299-467: The decision-making process." Steven states that "Eurorealism is a form of conservativism, first and foremost, rather than a form or Euroscepticism, even if it obviously very much also has the 'soft' Eurosceptic tendencies which are present in a number of ECR member parties." While having some overlaps, Euroscepticism and anti-Europeanism are different. Euroscepticism is criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration . Anti-Europeanism
13442-470: The economy functioning and the country's debt increased accordingly. The Greek crisis was triggered by the turmoil of the Great Recession , which led the budget deficits of several Western nations to reach or exceed 10% of GDP. In the case of Greece, the high budget deficit (which, after several corrections, had been allowed to reach 10.2% and 15.1% of GDP in 2008 and 2009, respectively ) was coupled with
13585-406: The euro currency declined in response to the downgrade. On 1 May 2010, the Greek government announced a series of austerity measures (the third austerity package within months) to secure a three-year €110 billion loan ( First Economic Adjustment Programme ). This was met with great anger by some Greeks, leading to massive protests , riots, and social unrest throughout Greece. The Troika ,
13728-435: The eurozone but most importantly in Ireland, Spain, and Portugal, showed investors' confidence in the ECB backstop. In November 2013 ECB lowered its bank rate to only 0.25% to aid recovery in the eurozone. As of May 2014 only two countries (Greece and Cyprus) still needed help from third parties. The Greek economy had fared well for much of the 20th century, with high growth rates and low public debt. By 2007 (i.e., before
13871-433: The eurozone's gross domestic product (GDP), it became a perceived problem for the area as a whole, leading to concerns about further contagion of other European countries and a possible break-up of the eurozone. In total, the debt crisis forced five out of 17 eurozone countries to seek help from other nations by the end of 2012. In mid-2012, due to successful fiscal consolidation and implementation of structural reforms in
14014-446: The extent to which adherents reject integration between member states of the EU and in their reasons for doing so. Aleks Szczerbiak and Paul Taggart described two of these as hard and soft Euroscepticism. At the same time, some scholars have said that there is no clear line between the presumed hard and soft Euroscepticism. Cas Mudde and Petr Kopecky have said that if the demarcation line
14157-416: The fallout from a Greek exit would wipe 20% off Greece's GDP, increase Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio to over 200%, and send inflation soaring to 40–50%. Also UBS warned of hyperinflation , a bank run and even " military coups and possible civil war that could afflict a departing country". Eurozone National Central Banks (NCBs) may lose up to €100bn in debt claims against the Greek national bank through
14300-417: The figure was now estimated to have risen sharply above 33%. In February 2012, an IMF official negotiating Greek austerity measures admitted that excessive spending cuts were harming Greece. The IMF predicted the Greek economy to contract by 5.5% by 2014. Harsh austerity measures led to an actual contraction after six years of recession of 17%. Some economic experts argue that the best option for Greece, and
14443-462: The financial stability of the economy. As of January 2009, a group of 10 central and eastern European banks had already asked for a bailout . At the time, the European Commission released a forecast of a 1.8% decline in EU economic output for 2009, making the outlook for the banks even worse. The many public funded bank recapitalizations were one reason behind the sharply deteriorated debt-to-GDP ratios experienced by several European governments in
14586-459: The imbalances in capital flows and debt accumulation in the South by coordinating national fiscal policies. Germany could have adopted more expansionary fiscal policies (to boost domestic demand and reduce the outflow of capital) and Southern eurozone member states could have adopted more restrictive fiscal policies (to curtail domestic demand and reduce borrowing from the North). Per the requirements of
14729-455: The large differences in terms of political agenda; hard Euroscepticism has also been referred to as Europhobia as opposed to mere Euroscepticism . Other alternative names for hard and soft Euroscepticism include withdrawalist and reformist , respectively. A survey in November 2015 , conducted by TNS Opinion and Social on behalf of the European Commission , showed that, across the EU as
14872-481: The loan time to 15 years. The move was expected to save the country between 600 and 700 million euros per year. On 14 September 2011, in a move to further ease Ireland's difficult financial situation, the European Commission announced it would cut the interest rate on its €22.5 billion loan coming from the European Financial Stability Mechanism, down to 2.59 per cent—which is the interest rate
15015-438: The markets; on 23 April 2010, the Greek government requested an initial loan of €45 billion from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cover its financial needs for the remaining part of 2010. A few days later Standard & Poor's slashed Greece's sovereign debt rating to BB+ or " junk " status amid fears of default , in which case investors were liable to lose 30–50% of their money. Stock markets worldwide and
15158-596: The member states. Despite different macroeconomic conditions, the European Central Bank could only adopt one interest rate, choosing one that meant that real interest rates in Germany were high (relative to inflation) and low in Southern eurozone member states. This incentivized investors in Germany to lend to the South, whereas the South was incentivized to borrow (because interest rates were very low). Over time, this led to
15301-471: The national budget went from a surplus in 2007 to a deficit of 32% GDP in 2010, the highest in the history of the eurozone, despite austerity measures. With Ireland's credit rating falling rapidly in the face of mounting estimates of the banking losses, guaranteed depositors and bondholders cashed in during 2009–10, and especially after August 2010. (The necessary funds were borrowed from the central bank.) With yields on Irish Government debt rising rapidly, it
15444-510: The national currency) due to having the Euro as a shared currency. Debt accumulation in some eurozone members was in part due to macroeconomic differences among eurozone member states prior to the adoption of the euro. It also involved a process of debt market contagion. The European Central Bank adopted an interest rate that incentivized investors in Northern eurozone members to lend to the South, whereas
15587-498: The needed austerity measures to pave the way for the second bailout loan. All the implemented austerity measures have helped Greece bring down its primary deficit —i.e., fiscal deficit before interest payments—from €24.7bn (10.6% of GDP) in 2009 to just €5.2bn (2.4% of GDP) in 2011, but as a side-effect they also contributed to a worsening of the Greek recession, which began in October 2008 and only became worse in 2010 and 2011. The Greek GDP had its worst decline in 2011 with −6.9%,
15730-533: The old Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD) group. The main goal of the ID group was to reject the proposed Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe . Some delegations within the group, notably that from UKIP, also advocated the complete withdrawal of their country from the EU, while others only wished to limit further European integration. The elections of 2009 saw a significant fall in support in some areas for Eurosceptic parties, with all such MEPs from Poland, Denmark and Sweden losing their seats. In
15873-650: The party of Mr. Katsanevas. in a meeting of the two eurosceptic parties which took place in Germany. The creation of the party was recorded in the Italian press, the Turkish press as well as in Brussels. Elsewhere, importance is brought to the convergence of populist and anti-European leftist parties like Drachma 5 Star and Plan B, as well as of right-wing parties such as Golden Dawn and the "inclusive right wing platform", Independent Greeks both in Greece, as well as among Southern Europe countries. Attention has been also given to
16016-459: The payment of its last scheduled eurozone bailout tranche in December 2014, and about a potential update of its remaining bailout programme for 2015–16. When calculating the impact of the 2015 fiscal budget presented by the Greek government, there was a disagreement, with the calculations of the Greek government showing it fully complied with the goals of its agreed "Midterm fiscal plan 2013–16" , while
16159-487: The positive effect that it help calm down financial markets as the presence of this extra backup guarantee mechanism makes the environment safer for investors. The positive economic outlook for Greece—based on the return of seasonally adjusted real GDP growth across the first three quarters of 2014—was replaced by a new fourth recession starting in Q4-2014. This new fourth recession was widely assessed as being direct related to
16302-427: The premature snap parliamentary election called by the Greek parliament in December 2014 and the following formation of a Syriza -led government refusing to accept respecting the terms of its current bailout agreement. The rising political uncertainty of what would follow caused the Troika to suspend all scheduled remaining aid to Greece under its second programme, until such time as the Greek government either accepted
16445-426: The previous maturity). This counted as a "credit event" and holders of credit default swaps were paid accordingly. It was the world's biggest debt restructuring deal ever done, affecting some €206 billion of Greek government bonds. The debt write-off had a size of €107 billion , and caused the Greek debt level to temporarily fall from roughly €350bn to €240bn in March 2012 (it would subsequently rise again, due to
16588-469: The previously negotiated conditional payment terms or alternatively could reach a mutually accepted agreement of some new updated terms with its public creditors. This rift caused a renewed increasingly growing liquidity crisis (both for the Greek government and Greek financial system), resulting in plummeting stock prices at the Athens Stock Exchange while interest rates for the Greek government at
16731-449: The private lending market spiked to levels once again making it inaccessible as an alternative funding source. Faced by the threat of a sovereign default and potential resulting exit of the eurozone, some final attempts were made by the Greek government in May 2015 to settle an agreement with the Troika about some adjusted terms for Greece to comply with in order to activate the transfer of the frozen bailout funds in its second programme. In
16874-429: The problem of risky loans. Another factor that incentivized risky financial transaction was that national governments could not credibly commit not to bailout financial institutions who had undertaken risky loans, thus causing a moral hazard problem. The Eurozone can incentivize overborrowing through a tragedy of the commons . The European debt crisis erupted in the wake of the Great Recession around late 2009, and
17017-454: The process, the Eurogroup granted a six-month technical extension of its second bailout programme to Greece. On 5 July 2015, the citizens of Greece voted decisively (a 61% to 39% decision with 62.5% voter turnout) to reject a referendum that would have given Greece more bailout help from other EU members in return for increased austerity measures. As a result of this vote, Greece's finance minister Yanis Varoufakis stepped down on 6 July. Greece
17160-520: The proposals of the party for a unified currency in south European countries (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus). Eurosceptic Euroscepticism , also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism , is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration . It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek reform ( Eurorealism , Eurocritical , or soft Euroscepticism ), to those who oppose EU membership and see
17303-402: The public, and the government debt of several states was downgraded. The crisis subsequently spread to Ireland and Portugal, while raising concerns about Italy, Spain, and the European banking system, and more fundamental imbalances within the eurozone. The under-reporting was exposed through a revision of the forecast for the 2009 budget deficit from "6–8%" of GDP (no greater than 3% of GDP was
17446-452: The rest of the EU, would be to engineer an "orderly default ", allowing Athens to withdraw simultaneously from the eurozone and reintroduce its national currency the drachma at a debased rate. If Greece were to leave the euro, the economic and political consequences would be devastating. According to Japanese financial company Nomura an exit would lead to a 60% devaluation of the new drachma. Analysts at French bank BNP Paribas added that
17589-500: The resulting bank recapitalization needs), with improved predictions about the debt burden. In December 2012, the Greek government bought back €21 billion ($ 27 billion) of their bonds for 33 cents on the euro. Critics such as the director of LSE 's Hellenic Observatory argue that the billions of taxpayer euros are not saving Greece but financial institutions. Of all €252bn in bailouts between 2010 and 2015, just 10% has found its way into financing continued public deficit spending on
17732-492: The scheduled bailout funds and full implementation of the agreed adjustment package in 2012, there was a new forecast financing gap of: €5.6bn in 2014, €12.3bn in 2015, and €0bn in 2016 . The new forecast financing gaps will need either to be covered by the government's additional lending from private capital markets, or to be countered by additional fiscal improvements through expenditure reductions, revenue hikes or increased amount of privatizations. Due to an improved outlook for
17875-422: The seat, this led to heavy critics by Jörg Leichtfried (SPÖ) "Stadler wants to just rescue his political career" because Stadler before mentioned he would never accept a seat as MEP if this was only due to the Lisbon Treaty. On 23 December 2013 he founded a conservative and Eurosceptic party called The Reform Conservatives , although it has been inactive since June 2016. In the 2014 European Parliament election ,
18018-561: The severe GDP drop during the handling of the crisis . Greece's bailouts successfully ended (as declared) on 20 August 2018. The Irish sovereign debt crisis arose not from government over-spending, but from the state guaranteeing the six main Irish-based banks who had financed a property bubble . On 29 September 2008, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan Jnr issued a two-year guarantee to the banks' depositors and bondholders. The guarantees were subsequently renewed for new deposits and bonds in
18161-565: The socialist BSP. Since the 2021–2023 Bulgarian political crisis , the far-right hard Eurosceptic party Revival has outplaced Attack, with it getting 14% on the most recent 2023 Bulgarian parliamentary election . Parties with Eurosceptic views are mainly small right-wing parties like Croatian Party of Rights , Croatian Party of Rights dr. Ante Starčević , Croatian Pure Party of Rights , Autochthonous Croatian Party of Rights , Croatian Christian Democratic Party and Only Croatia – Movement for Croatia . The only parliamentary party that
18304-422: The sovereigns to mask their deficit and debt levels through a combination of techniques, including inconsistent accounting, off-balance-sheet transactions, and the use of complex currency and credit derivatives structures. From late 2009 on, after Greece's newly elected, PASOK government stopped masking its true indebtedness and budget deficit, fears of sovereign defaults in certain European states developed in
18447-405: The three first quarters of 2014. The return of economic growth, along with the now existing underlying structural budget surplus of the general government, build the basis for the debt-to-GDP ratio to start a significant decline in the coming years ahead, which will help ensure that Greece will be labelled "debt sustainable" and fully regain complete access to private lending markets in 2015. While
18590-434: The updated review of the Greek bailout programme on 8 December (to be published on the same day), and the potential adjustments to the remaining programme for 2015–16. There were rumours in the press that the Greek government has proposed immediately to end the previously agreed and continuing IMF bailout programme for 2015–16, replacing it with the transfer of €11bn unused bank recapitalization funds currently held as reserve by
18733-543: The use of the term 'sceptic' to describe hard Eurosceptics, and would rather advocate the use of the term "Euro opponent". He believes the use of the term 'sceptic' for soft Eurosceptics to be correct, since other Eurosceptic parties in France are "merely criticising" the EU without taking into account the fact that the Treaty of Rome can only be modified with a unanimous agreement of all the EU member states, something he considers impossible to achieve. Soft Euroscepticism reflects
18876-723: The value of the national currency to make exports more competitive in foreign markets). Other important factors include the globalisation of finance ; easy credit conditions during the 2002–2008 period that encouraged high-risk lending and borrowing practices; the 2007–2008 financial crisis ; international trade imbalances; real estate bubbles that have since burst; the Great Recession of 2008–2012; fiscal policy choices related to government revenues and expenses; and approaches used by states to bail out troubled banking industries and private bondholders, assuming private debt burdens or socializing losses. Macroeconomic divergence among eurozone member states led to imbalanced capital flows between
19019-732: The vote putting it in 5th place. Parties with mainly Eurosceptic views in Cyprus are the Progressive Party of Working People and ELAM . European debt crisis The European debt crisis , often also referred to as the eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis , was a multi-year debt crisis that took place in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone member states ( Greece , Portugal , Ireland and Cyprus ) were unable to repay or refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks under their national supervision without
19162-585: The votes or 4 seats of the Dutch-language college out of 12 (21 MEPs for Belgium) in the 2014 European Parliament election . In April 2019, it stood in European Conservatives and Reformists Group of the European Parliament, and can be considered a moderate Eurosceptic party. In the French-speaking part of Belgium ( Walloons ), there are four Eurosceptic parties. The first one is Nation Movement ,
19305-866: The wake of the Great Recession. The main root causes for the four sovereign debt crises erupting in Europe were reportedly a mix of: weak actual and potential growth ; competitive weakness ; liquidation of banks and sovereigns; large pre-existing debt-to-GDP ratios; and considerable liability stocks (government, private, and non-private sector). In the first few weeks of 2010, there was renewed anxiety about excessive national debt, with lenders demanding ever-higher interest rates from several countries with higher debt levels, deficits, and current account deficits . This in turn made it difficult for four out of eighteen eurozone governments to finance further budget deficits and repay or refinance existing government debt , particularly when economic growth rates were low, and when
19448-617: Was a final forecast more than 4 times higher than the original. In Greece, the low ("6–8%") forecast was reported until very late in the year (September 2009), clearly not corresponding to the actual situation. Fragmented financial regulation contributed to irresponsible lending in the years prior to the crisis. In the eurozone, each country had its own financial regulations, which allowed financial institutions to exploit gaps in monitoring and regulatory responsibility to resort to loans that were high-yield but very risky. Harmonization or centralization in financial regulations could have alleviated
19591-420: Was characterized by an environment of overly high government structural deficits and accelerating debt levels. When, as a negative repercussion of the Great Recession, the relatively fragile banking sector had suffered large capital losses, most states in Europe had to bail out several of their most affected banks with some supporting recapitalization loans, because of the strong linkage between their survival and
19734-455: Was clear that the Government would have to seek assistance from the EU and IMF, resulting in a €67.5 billion "bailout" agreement of 29 November 2010. Together with additional €17.5 billion coming from Ireland's own reserves and pensions, the government received €85 billion , of which up to €34 billion was to be used to support the country's failing financial sector (only about half of this
19877-454: Was consistently below 50%. A 2009 survey showed that support for EU membership was lowest in the United Kingdom (UK), Latvia , and Hungary . By 2016, the countries viewing the EU most unfavourably were the UK, Greece , France , and Spain . The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum resulted in a 51.9% vote in favour of leaving the EU ( Brexit ), a decision that came into effect on 31 January 2020. Since 2015, trust in
20020-608: Was in the field across Europe when the European Council summit reached political agreement on a pandemic economic recovery fund (later named Next Generation EU ) on 21 July 2020. A comparison of Eurobarometer responses gathered before this seminal decision and interviews conducted shortly thereafter indicates that the European Council's endorsement of pandemic economic relief increased popular support of COVID-19 economic recovery aid - but only among Europeans who view EU decisionmakers as trustworthy. A study analysed voting records of
20163-455: Was the first developed country not to make a payment to the IMF on time, in 2015 (payment was made with a 20-day delay ). Eventually, Greece agreed on a third bailout package in August 2015. Between 2009 and 2017 the Greek government debt rose from €300 bn to €318 bn, i.e. by only about 6% (thanks, in part, to the 2012 debt restructuring); however, during the same period, the critical debt-to-GDP ratio shot up from 127% to 179% basically due to
20306-453: Was the top concern for Dutch, Swedish, and Danish respondents. The April 2019 Eurobarometer showed that despite the challenges of the past years, and in cases such as the ongoing debate surrounding Brexit, possibly even because of it, the European sense of togetherness had not weakened, with 68% of respondents across the EU27 believing that their countries have benefited from being part of the EU,
20449-430: Was used in that way following stress tests conducted in 2011). In return the government agreed to reduce its budget deficit to below three per cent by 2015. In April 2011, despite all the measures taken, Moody's downgraded the banks' debt to junk status . In July 2011, European leaders agreed to cut the interest rate that Ireland was paying on its EU/IMF bailout loan from around 6% to between 3.5% and 4% and to double
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