In the year 2011, although certain signs of recovery have already been seen in both countries, they are still facing a number of difficulties in stabilizing the economy. Fiscal deficit is one of the most difficult issues that both governments must address first and foremost, which requires austerity measures to be taken in the coming years. The UK coalition government has been running generally smoothly, except social unrest caused partly by its social reforms. The UK has taken an active part in the Libya crisis, but at the same time its relationships with the EU have been deteriorated to a certain extent by the disputes on the EU's budget. On the Irish side, it became the first country in the Euro area that was forced to hold an early general election. Owing to the huge deficit, the Irish government had to seek for assistance from the IMF and the EU. <<