If you accept National Bureau for Economic Research dating the beginning of the recession as December 2007 then this statement:
Tell me, how many of these 27 countries had a socialist government in the run up to the financial crisis?
Very few. Which explains why the EU had a neo-liberal agenda and was pushing for privatisation/free-market fundamentalism so strongly, you know, the economic policies which got us in such a mess.
It is not quite so clear cut. The stats produces by The Economist in the following chart.
In 2007 there were 9 left wing governments within the 27 EU countries – this excludes their presence within coalitions where they did not have overall control. Just thought a few facts may help things along. 😀