{"id":5159,"date":"2011-11-21T23:15:11","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T04:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonapollovoss.local\/?p=5159"},"modified":"2018-09-21T02:04:35","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T06:04:35","slug":"european-sovereign-debt-crisis-overview-analysis-and-timeline-of-major-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/2011\/11\/21\/european-sovereign-debt-crisis-overview-analysis-and-timeline-of-major-events\/","title":{"rendered":"European Sovereign Debt Crisis: Overview, Analysis, and Timeline of Major Events"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This post will be updated periodically as events unfold. Last updated\u00a014 December 2012.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Most commentators trace the beginning of the European sovereign debt crisis<\/a> to 5 November 2009, when Greece revealed that its budget deficit was 12.7% of gross domestic product (GDP), more than twice what the country had previously disclosed. However, the real origins of the crisis can be traced to the very structures that govern Europe’s institutions and to the players that govern\u00a0European institutions<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The creation of the European Union as we know it today began with ratification of the Maastricht Treaty on 7 February 1992. The Maastricht Treaty provisions imposed stringent economic requirements, known as “convergence criteria,” that member states are required to meet before they could gain admittance to the common currency zone that has come to be known as the eurozone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among these convergence criteria are:<\/span><\/p>\n