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Greece is Sinking: Will They Drown the EU?

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Greece is Sinking: Will They Drown the EU?
Outline
1. Intro
a. “In this paper I will discuss…”
2. Body
a. The Rise of the Greece’s Economy
i. Economy suffering in the 80s ii. Revive economy in the 90’s iii. Join the European Union
b. The Fall of the Greek Economy
i. How debt crisis started ii. The Bailouts
c. The Flaws of the European Union
i. The euro ii. Policy constraints iii. Integration
3. Conclusion
a. My viewpoint
i. The cracks must be fixed

Greece is Sinking: Will They Drown the EU?
Introduction
Over the past few years, it seems that one cannot turn on the news without seeing something about Greece and its collapsing economy. It may have a high standard of living, but it has never had a top-tier economy and this was brought to the attention of the entire world in recent years. After experiencing drastic improvement and growth from 1994 to 2007, it seemed that the Greek economy was no longer destined to be at the bottom; however, everything changed with the start of the recession in 2008. Since then, Greece’s debt has increased enormously, precipitating a hugely negative impact on the economies of all the countries in the European Union. In this paper, I will discuss the Greek economic crisis and its effect on the European Union.
The Rise of Greece’s Economy
During the 80s, the Greek economy suffered drastically due to expansionary fiscal policies, high inflation rates and an increasing budget deficit. Their economy was far from meeting the convergence criteria to Membership in the euro system of the European Union was a distant hope for the Greeks as their economy didn’t measure up to the strict convergence criteria, and improvements didn’t appear to be in the near future. The EU criteria consisted of requirements such as having a budget deficit of less than three percent of GDP, a debt-to-GDP ratio of less than sixty percent and low inflation rates (1). However, in the 1990s, the Greek government reduced the number of state-owned businesses to push for


Cited: . "Greece 's Membership in the Single Currency." Europa: Summaries of EU Legislation. N.p., 25 Aug. 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. . 2. "Greece- Overview of the Economy." Encyclopedia of the Nations. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. . 3. Lapavitsas, Costas. "Eurozone Crisis: How Greece 's Actions Will Impact Europe for Years." Alternet. Le Monde Diplomatique, 7 June 2012. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.
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