Greece: Call for EU assurances to avert debt default - timeline
Searching more than 75 years of world history
- January 2010. The government announces a package of austerity measures including public sector pay cuts and an increase in fuel duty.
- October 2009. The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) wins elections and George Papandreou becomes prime minister.
- April 2009. EU finance ministers urge Greece to take urgent steps to reduce its budget deficit in order to protect the euro zone against market perceptions of fiscal indiscipline. The EU statistical agency estimates the Greek budget deficit as 4.8 per cent, well above Greece's figure of 3.7 per cent.
- October 2008. The finance minister reveals that the deficit targets for 2007 and 2008 had been missed with a 2007 deficit of 3.4 per cent and a 2008 deficit of 2.3 per cent.
- December 2007. Government measures to reform the debt-ridden pension system by reducing pension payments and increasing the retirement age lead to a general strike.
- May 2007. The European Commission (EC) ends its budget supervision of Greece, citing satisfactory progress in reducing the deficit.
- October 2006. A strike by teachers in demand of increased pay is joined by a nationwide sympathy strike of civil servants.
- October 2005. The Greek finance minister presents a budget for fiscal 2006 which foresees a deficit of 2.8 per cent, below the 3.0 per cent limit demanded by the EC.
- April 2005. The EC praises the Greek government's efforts to bring the budget deficit under control.
- March 2005. The Greek budget deficit is revealed to be 6.1 per cent of GDP, well above the government projection of 5.3 per cent. The government raises VAT and alcohol duty in an attempt to reduce the deficit to the EU-mandated level of 3 per cent by end 2006.
- December 2004. The EC launches legal action against Greece after it emerges that the Greek government concealed the extent of the budget deficit in order to qualify for membership of the euro.
- October 2004. The European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs launches an investigation into allegations that Greece had been misquoting its deficit since as far back as 1997.
- January 2002. The Euro replaces the Drachma as the currency of Greece.
- January 2001. Greece becomes the 12th member of the European single currency.
- January 1981. Greece joins the EU.
- October 1974. The first general election since the fall of the military dictatorship is announced.
- April 1967. A military coup installs a junta on the pretext of preventing a communist government being elected.
- January 1952. A new constitution is ratified providing for universal suffrage and parliamentary democracy.
- October 1951. The foreign ministers of NATO agree to Greece's entry into the pact, alongside its traditional rival Turkey.
- October 1949. The Greek Civil War ends with a military victory for the democratic Greek government over communist forces.
- October 1944. Greece is liberated by Allied forces and the Greek government in exile returns to the country.
- May 1941. Nazi German forces occupy Greece after an Italian invasion is defeated by the Greek Army.
- 1913. The Aegean Islands, Crete and Macedonia are ceded to Greece by the Ottoman Empire after the latter's defeat in the Balkan Wars.
- 1863. Sovereignty over the Ionian Islands is transferred from the British Empire to Greece.
- 1821. Greece declares independence after an uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
