Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union
Economic union and policies
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| April 2019 | The European Parliament endorsed regulatory changes to facilitate Sovereign Bond Backed Securities (SBBS), which are essentially equivalent to the original ESBies proposal. |
| 2018 | Banks were required to start setting aside at least one percent of deposits covered by national guarantees for a special fund to finance banking crisis resolutions. |
| August 20 2018 | Greece's bailouts officially ended. |
| March 2018 | Spain's unemployment rate fell to 16.1% and national debt reached 98.30% of GDP. |
| 2017 | The European Central Bank showed interest in the European Safe Bonds (ESBies) proposal, originally developed by Princeton University economists, which suggested a novel approach to creating safe European government bonds. |
| 2016 | Portugal reduces its budget deficit to below three percent, achieving this through a leftist coalition that increased minimum wage and reversed previous public sector cuts. |
| 2015 | Germany's budget includes a surplus for the first time since 1969, with projections indicating debt will be less than required by the Stability and Growth Pact by 2019. |
| August 2015 | Greece agreed on a third bailout package. |
| July 6 2015 | Greece's finance minister Yanis Varoufakis stepped down following the referendum results. |
| July 5 2015 | Greek citizens voted 61% to 39% to reject a referendum on bailout conditions, leading to the resignation of finance minister Yanis Varoufakis on July 6th. |
| April 2015 | The Cypriot government issued €1 billion of seven-year bonds with a 4.0% yield, continuing its efforts to return to financial markets. |
| 2014 | The eurozone's current account surplus almost doubled compared to the previous year, reaching a record high of 227.9 billion Euros. |
| September 4 2014 | European Central Bank cuts interest rates to a record low of 0.05%, aiming to make borrowing cheaper and boost economic investment. |
| September 4 2014 | ECB cuts interest rates to a record low of 0.05%, aiming to make borrowing cheaper and boost economic investment. |
| June 2014 | MSCI reclassifies Greece as an emerging market due to failure to meet market accessibility criteria. |
| June 2014 | Cyprus began regaining access to private lending markets by selling €0.75 billion of bonds with a five-year maturity at a 4.85% yield. |
| January 23 2014 | Spain formally exited the EU/IMF bailout mechanism as foreign investor confidence was restored. |
| January 1 2014 | Introduction of new EU financial transaction tax by 11 out of 17 eurozone countries. |
| 2013 | European Central Bank (ECB) begins lowering bank rates to historical lows, reaching 0.25% in November. |
| 2013 | According to the Euro Plus Monitor Report, the collective current account of Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain was expected to balance by mid-2013, potentially ending their need to import capital. |
| 2013 | Spain was experiencing 27% unemployment and economic contraction of 1.4%. |
| June 2013 | MSCI reclassified Greece as an emerging market, citing failure to qualify on several market accessibility criteria. |
| April 30 2013 | The Cypriot House of Representatives fully endorsed the Troika's Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlining the final conditions for the bailout package. |
| March 2013 | Economist Paul Krugman argued that the eurozone crisis is fundamentally a balance of payments crisis, not a debt crisis, highlighting the strong relationship between interest spreads and current account deficits. |
| March 25 2013 | The final bailout agreement was settled, which included closing the troubled Laiki Bank and reducing the needed loan amount to €10 billion without imposing a general levy on bank deposits. |
| March 19 2013 | The Cypriot parliament rejected the proposed bailout deal with 36 votes against, 19 abstentions, and one member not present for the vote. |
| December 2012 | Greek government bought back €21 billion of their bonds for 33 cents on the euro. |
| November 30 2012 | The Troika (European Commission, International Monetary Fund, and European Central Bank) and the Cypriot Government agreed on bailout terms, with negotiations focusing on the amount of financial support needed. |
| October 2012 | International Monetary Fund (IMF) publishes a report revealing that tax hikes and spending cuts have damaged GDP growth more severely than expected. |
| September 2012 | European Central Bank announced an 'unlimited bond-buying plan' to reduce financial market pressure on Spain. |
| June 2012 | EU leaders agree to moderately increase European Investment Bank funds to kick-start infrastructure projects and increase private sector loans. |
| June 25 2012 | The Cypriot Government officially requested a bailout from the European Financial Stability Facility or the European Stability Mechanism, citing difficulties in supporting its banking sector due to exposure to the Greek debt haircut. |
| June 17 2012 | Centre-right party's narrow election victory gave hope that Greece would honour its obligations and stay in the Euro-zone. |
| June 9 2012 | Eurogroup granted Spain a financial support package of up to €100 billion to address banking sector issues. |
| June 6 2012 | European Commission adopted a legislative proposal for a harmonised bank recovery and resolution mechanism, aiming to manage bank failures and minimize financial instability across the EU. |
| May 2012 | Bankia received a 19 billion euro bailout, in addition to a previous 4.5 billion euro support. |
| May 2012 | German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble signaled support for a significant increase in German wages to help decrease current account imbalances within the eurozone. |
| April 2012 | European Commissioner Olli Rehn announces breakthrough for pilot projects, including plans to build highways in Greece and support economic recovery initiatives. |
| March 2012 | Greece defaults on parts of its debt through a massive €206 billion government bond restructuring, with a €107 billion debt write-off. |
| March 2012 | Greek government defaulted on parts of its debt, implementing the world's biggest debt restructuring deal affecting €206 billion of Greek government bonds, with a debt write-off of €107 billion. |
| February 2012 | Troika agreed to provide a second bailout package worth €130 billion, conditional on harsh austerity measures reducing Greek expenditure. |
| February 20 2012 | Eurogroup, IMF, and Institute of International Finance reach a final agreement on the second bailout package for Greece, worth €130 billion, increasing the debt write-off to 53.5% and agreeing to lower interest rates. |
| 2011 | Spanish government passed a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget at national and regional levels by 2020, limiting public debt to 60% of GDP. |
| November 10 2011 | George Papandreou resigned, and Lucas Papademos was appointed as prime minister of an interim national union government to implement austerity measures. |
| November 3 2011 | Prime Minister Papandreou withdraws the proposed Greek referendum on the bailout package. |
| October 2011 | European Commission concluded a period of state aid approvals for banks, with total aid reaching approximately €4.5 billion, including taxpayer-funded recapitalisations and public debt guarantees. |
| October 2011 | Troika offered Greece a second bailout loan worth €130 billion, conditional on further austerity measures and debt restructuring. |
| October 31 2011 | Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announces a potential referendum on the bailout package, causing uncertainty in financial markets. |
| October 26 2011 | Eurozone leaders meet in Brussels and agree on a comprehensive package to address the debt crisis, including a 50% write-off of Greek sovereign debt, increasing bail-out funds to €1 trillion, and setting a 9% mandatory bank capitalization level. |
| 2010 | Spain had a low public debt level of 60% relative to GDP, significantly lower than other advanced economies. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Euro area crisis, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.