1. Introduction

It is now the seventh year since, in May 2010, Greece first sought financial assistance from the EU and the IMF, embarking on a programme of drastic fiscal consolidation and structural reform. The programme has had a number of successes, mainly a drastic reduction of government budget deficits and return to a surplus, as well as reduction in inflation and external imbalances; but the concomitant austerity has imposed a huge social cost in terms of an unprecedented drop in GDP, record unemployment, impoverishment and rising inequality. At the same time, it has often pitted Greece and its creditors at loggerheards with each other; while challenges such as the reduction of persistent high debt and the improvement of competitiveness remain as acute as ever. This experience and whole host of open issues that arise present a goldmine of material of interest to analyst and general audience alike; while there is a wealth of related academic literature, popular writings and op-ed commentary, as yet there are few efforts to present an integrated analysis of this experience. The present volume aims to fill this gap. The first Chapter introduces the volume and provides background information to the Greek crisis. It discusses the country’s recent macroeconomic performance, possible reasons as to why the country found itself at such a difficulty (beyond the immediate reason that public finances became unsustainable), it places the Greek crisis in the context of the wider Eurozone architecture and its weaknesses (according to critics), and provides a chronology of the crisis. In this context, landmark developments are discussed such as the various (three to-date) ‘Memoranda’ of conditions, the PSI debt relief of 2012 as well as offering an overview of the different approaches to the crisis and discussing prospects. The Chapter concludes by briefly summarising the contributions (16) to the volume. Those contributions are broadly based, offering political economy, macroeconomic as well as sectoral and other perspectives on the country, its recent economic history, experience of the crisis and prospects. They are written in a way that straddles academic style and more popular writing and should therefore be of interest to wide audiences interested not only in Greece but the experience of the Euro and European integration at large.