While at relatively high levels, public debt also went down in Italy (from 113.0% of GDP to 103.3% of GDP) and increased only slightly in Greece. However, in the latter two cases, debt levels were still indeed far above the 60% stipulated in the Stability and Growth Pact.
Bringing the banking sector back in I submit that, to have a more accurate narrative for the causes of the crisis, we have to look beyond fiscal policies alone: imbalances originated mostly from rising private sector expenditures, which were in turn financed by the banking sectors of the lending and borrowing countries.