After a four-year break, European governments and institutions — including the continent’s Social Democrats — have decided to bring back austerity, mandating budget cuts of up to €100 billion next year. It’s another attack on the working class, which would be faced with job cuts, lower salaries, worse working conditions, and a further underfunding of public services. And we’ve been here before.

The aftermath of the 2008 economic crash kick-started a wave of austerity measures in Europe, as member states bore the brunt of the financial crisis and interventions to save the banks. In 2010, Greece was forced to implement harsh austerity measures. It started a movement of resistance that would lead to a tough standoff between the Syriza-led government and the European institutions in 2015.

Several other European countries, including Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Italy, also implemented austerity programs. This turned out to be calamitous. Austerity measures meant reduced funding for essential public services like health care, education, and social welfare programs. This impacted availability as well as efficiency: longer waiting times for surgeries, overpopulated classes in school, and reduced access to social aid and benefits.