The reasons that led to this, the fourth, edition of the study stem from the need to describe and analyze the events and legal rules that marked a turning point in the modern fiscal history of Greece after World War II.

Indeed, as is well known, our country, while still under the regime of fiscal supervision provided by EU law, due to the further deterioration of its creditworthiness, faced relentless attacks from speculators in its attempt to secure necessary revenues through loans from the international money markets.

To avoid the possibility of a disorderly bankruptcy of the country, which experts believe would crucially affect the stability of the common currency, two mechanisms of fiscal support for Greece were decided upon between the Greek government that emerged from the October 2009 elections, on one side, and the representatives of the Eurozone countries with the participation of the ECB and the IMF (known as the 'Troika') on the other, the first in March 2010 and the second in February 2012.

The terms of these mechanisms were included in the well-known Memoranda I and II and imposed strict austerity measures on Greece so that it could borrow directly from the markets in 2020.

A characteristic of the distrust that had been created towards Greece regarding the satisfaction of its debt obligations is the fact that the support mechanisms provided for the gradual, quarterly disbursement of the initially allocated loan amounts, and only after a review conducted by the representatives of the Troika concerning the progress of the obligations included in the Memoranda.

For the implementation of Greece's fiscal consolidation goals, significant interventions in the provisions of the country’s fiscal laws were necessary, in addition to the implementation laws.

Among these interventions, Law 3871/2010 'fiscal management and accountability' holds a prominent position, with which the regulations of Law 2362/1995 on Public Accounting were supplemented and modernized.

Finally, in this edition, it was deemed necessary to include the significant changes that have occurred during this period in the fiscal provisions of EU law, as reflected in the Financial Regulation 1605/2002 and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.