The sovereign debt crisis in Greece (also known as the Greek Depression) began in late 2009 as one of the first four sovereign debt crises in the euro zone - known later as the European debt crisis.
On April 21, 2010, <em><u>negotiations between the Greek Government, the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF</u></em> for the aid mechanism begin officially. A day later, Eurostat raises Greece's public deficit in 2009 from 12.7% of GDP to 13.6%, at the same time that the euro falls to its lowest level in the last year. On April 30, the president of the Eurogroup, Jean Claude Trichet, urgently calls a meeting in Brussels for May 2, in order to approve the aid package.
On May 2, 2010, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, later nicknamed as the Troika, responded to the crisis with the launch of a 110 billion euro rescue loan to get Greece out of sovereign default and cover its financial needs throughout May 2010 until June 2013, subject to the execution of austerity measures, structural reforms and the privatization of government assets. The popular reaction against the austerity plan generated eight general strikes during the year, with thousands of protesters in the streets. On July 14, 2010, the Hellenic Parliament approved the reform of pensions for public employees, which produces protests by officials.
