Greece

Map of Greece Hellenic Republic President: Karolos Papoulias (2005) Prime Minister: Lucas Papademos (interim; 2011) Land area: 50,502 sq mi (130,800 sq km); total area: 50,942 sq mi (131,940 sq km) Population (July 2011 est.): 10,760,136 (growth rate: .083%); birth rate: 9.21/1000; infant mortality rate: 5/1000; life expectancy: 79.92 Capital (2009 est.): Athens, 3.252 million Other large cities: Thessaloníki, 834,000 Monetary unit: Euro (formerly drachma) National name: Elliniki Dimokratia Current government officials Languages: Greek 99% (official), English, French Ethnicity/race: Greek 98%, other 2%; note: the Greek government states there are no ethnic divisions in Greece Religions: Greek Orthodox 98%, Islam 1.3%, other .7% Literacy rate: 98% (2003 est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2010) est.): $318.1 billion; per capita $29,600. Real growth rate: –4.50%. Inflation: 4.7%. Unemployment: 12.5%. Arable land: 20.45%. Agriculture: wheat, corn, barley, sugar beets, olives, tomatoes, wine, tobacco, potatoes; beef, dairy products. Labor force: 5.013 million; agriculture 12.4%, industry 22.4%, services 65.1% (2005 est.). Industries: tourism, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products; mining, petroleum. Natural resources: lignite, petroleum, iron ore, bauxite, lead, zinc, nickel, magnesite, marble, salt, hydropower potential. Exports: $20.96 billion (2010 est.): food and beverages, manufactured goods, petroleum products, chemicals, textiles. Imports: $46.6 billion (2010 est.): machinery, transport equipment, fuels, chemicals. Major trading partners: Germany, Italy, China, UK, Bulgaria, U.S., Cyprus, Turkey, France, Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, Spain (2006) . Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 5.93 million (2009); mobile cellular: 13.295 million (2006). Radio broadcast stations: 1,500 (2007). Television broadcast stations: 150. Internet hosts: 2.574 (2010). Internet users: 4.971 million (2009). Transportation: Railways: total: 2,548 km (2009). Highways: total: 117,533 km; paved: 107,895 km (including 880 km of expressways); unpaved: 9,638 km (2004). Waterways: 6 km; note: Corinth Canal (6 km) crosses the Isthmus of Corinth; shortens sea voyage by 325 km (2007). Ports and harbors: Agioitheodoroi, Aspropyrgos, Irakleion, Pachi, Piraeus, Thessaloniki. Airports: 81 (2010). International disputes: Greece and Turkey continue discussions to resolve their complex maritime, air, territorial, and boundary disputes in the Aegean Sea; Cyprus question with Turkey; Greece rejects the use of the name Macedonia or Republic of Macedonia; the mass migration of unemployed Albanians still remains a problem for developed countries, chiefly Greece and Italy. Major sources and definitions

Geography

Located in southern Europe, Greece forms an irregular-shaped peninsula in the Mediterranean with two additional large peninsulas projecting from it: the Chalcidice and the Peloponnese. The Greek islands are generally subdivided into two groups, according to location: the Ionian islands (including Corfu, Cephalonia, and Leucas) west of the mainland and the Aegean islands (including Euboea, Samos, Chios, Lesbos, and Crete) to the east and south. North-central Greece, Epirus, and western Macedonia are all mountainous. The main chain of the Pindus Mountains extends from northwest Greece to the Peloponnese. Mount Olympus, rising to 9,570 ft (2,909 m), is the highest point in the country.

Government

Parliamentary republic.

History

Indo-European peoples, including the Mycenaeans, began entering Greece about 2000 B.C. and set up sophisticated civilizations. About 1200 B.C., the Dorians, another Indo-European people, invaded Greece, and a dark age followed, known mostly through the Homeric epics. At the end of this time, classical Greece began to emerge (c. 750 B.C.) as a loose composite of city-states with a heavy involvement in maritime trade and a devotion to art, literature, politics, and philosophy. Greece reached the peak of its glory in the 5th century B.C., but the Peloponnesian War (431–404 B.C.) weakened the nation, and it was conquered by Philip II and his son Alexander the Great of Macedonia, who considered themselves Greek. By the middle of the 2nd century B.C., Greece had declined to the status of a Roman province. It remained within the eastern Roman Empire until Constantinople fell to the Crusaders in 1204. In 1453, the Turks took Constantinople and by 1460, Greece was a province in the Ottoman Empire. The Greek war of independence began in 1821, and by 1827 Greece won independence with sovereignty guaranteed by Britain, France, and Russia.

The protecting powers chose Prince Otto of Bavaria as the first king of modern Greece in 1832 to reign over an area only slightly larger than the Peloponnese peninsula. Chiefly under the next king, George I, chosen by the protecting powers in 1863, Greece acquired much of its present territory. During his 57-year reign, a period in which he encouraged parliamentary democracy, Thessaly, Epirus, Macedonia, Crete, and most of the Aegean islands were added from the disintegrating Turkish empire. Unfavorable economic conditions forced about one-sixth of the entire Greek population to emigrate (mostly to the U.S.) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. An unsuccessful war against Turkey after World War I brought down the monarchy, which was replaced by a republic in 1923.

Greece Mired in Long Civil War

Two military dictatorships and a financial crisis brought back the exiled king, George II, but only until 1941, when Italian and German invaders overcame tough Greek resistance. After British and Greek troops liberated the country in Oct. 1944, Communist guerrillas staged a long military campaign against the government; the Greek civil war, infamous for its brutality, began in Dec. 1944 and continued until Oct. 16, 1949, when the Communist guerrillas conceded defeat. The Greek government received U.S. aid under the Truman Doctrine, the predecessor of the Marshall Plan, to fight against the Communists.

Greece was a charter member of the UN and became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1951. A military junta seized power in April 1967, sending young King Constantine II into exile. Col. George Papadopoulos, a leader of the junta, gradually attempted to modify his hard-line right-wing image. A coup ousted Papadopoulos in Nov. 1973.

End of Monarchy Brings Civilian Government

A referendum in Dec. 1974, five months after the demise of the military dictatorship, ended the Greek monarchy and established a republic. Former premier Karamanlis returned from exile to become premier of Greece's first civilian government since 1967. Greece has continued to be ruled by freely elected civilian governments ever since. On Jan. 1, 1981, Greece became the 10th member of the European Union. Andreas Papandreou, son of former premier George Papandreou, founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and became Greece's first Socialist premier (1981–1989).

Greece continued to experience tensions with Turkey over a disputed, unpopulated 10-acre island and over Cyprus, which is divided into Greek and Turkish sectors.

The pro-Western Socialist prime minister Kostas Simitis (1996–2004) was credited with reviving the Greek economy. Still, The Economist magazine estimated in 2001 that it would be at least another 15 years before the per capita GDP in Greece comes close to the current EU average.

Government Focuses on Hosting Successful Olympics

In the summer of 2002, the government was finally able to crack down on the 17 November (17N) terrorist organization, which had eluded the Greek authorities for the previous 27 years. The radical leftist group was responsible for more than 20 murders of diplomats and businessmen. In parliamentary elections in March 2004, the conservative New Democracy Party swept to power, defeating Pasok, the ruling Socialist Party. The new prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis, vowed to deliver a successful and safe Olympics (Greece had been criticized for being lax on terrorism), and, in spite of last-minute construction, the Athens Olympics was widely hailed as a triumph.

Some 220 separate fires ravaged the Greek countryside and threatened ancient Olympic sites around Athens in late August 2007. At least 60 people died and more than half a million acres were destroyed in the blazes. Prime Minister Karamantis faced criticism over the country's response to the devastating blazes. The anger did not carry over to the polls, however, as Karamantis was reelected to a second term in September. His center-right party, New Democracy, won 42.6% of the vote in parliamentary elections, defeating the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), headed by George Papandreou.

Violent protests and riots in several Greek cities followed the death of a 15-year-old boy who was shot on December 6, 2008, by a police officer in Athens. The policeman was charged with premeditated manslaughter. Though the riots were sparked by the killing, they were also in protest of the government's economic policies. A general strike coincided with the protests and crippled transportation systems, banks, and schools throughout Greece. The violence was the worst Greece has experienced in years.

EU, IMF Bail Out Greece During Debt Crisis

The opposition Socialist party, the Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok), won a resounding victory in elections in October 2009. George Papandreou, the leader of Pasok since 2004, became prime minister. A former foreign minister, Papandreou immediately faced a public financial crisis that caused fear that the country might default on its debt. Indeed, the government acknowledged that Greece's deficit had risen to 12.7% of GDP, much higher than the 3.7% reported by the previous administration. The situation prompted Papandreou, whose father and grandfather also served as prime ministers, to make deep spending cuts, crack down on tax evasion, and increase fuel prices.

In April 2010, shortly after Papandreou requested a $60 billion bailout package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, Standard & Poor's downgraded Greece's bond rating to junk status, a move that caused further fear that the country would default on its debt. Germany balked at the aid package without promises of strict austerity measures from Greece. While Germany stalled, the needed amount of assistance ballooned. In early May, Greece agreed to implement deep cuts to its social services, crack down on corruption, increase the retirement age, and other measures in exchange for $146 billion in aid, which will be distributed over three years. Protests broke out over the cuts, and three people were killed when a bank was set on fire. The protests quickly waned, and by the end of the summer Greece had met the economic benchmarks set by the IMF and thus qualified for the next round of aid.

Increased pressure on the euro and a still-deteriorating financial situation led to a second bailout package in 2011. In July, the "troika"—the EU, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund—agreed on a 109 billion euro ($157 billion) rescue package for Greece to address the country's financial woes. The package, however, was not sufficient to stem the recession and Greece continued to miss deficit-reduction goals and default seemed imminent. In September, in an attempt to reduce the deficit and secure another round of aid, Parliament passed a new property tax that was resoundingly criticized by the opposition and the public. Another round of austerity measures, including wage and job reductions, was introduced in late October and met with mass protests that turned violent.

In late October after protracted negotiations, the leaders of the euro zone agreed on a package meant to bring the debt crisis under control. The terms included forcing banks to take a 50% cut in the value of Greek debt and raise new capital to protect them from future defaults, increasing the euro-zone's bail-out fund to $1.4 trillion, further deep and painful austerity measures in Greece, and a reduction of Greece's debt to 120% of its GDP by 2020. Many Greek citizens and politicians condemned the deal out of frustration over Germany and France's continued influence over Greece's affairs. Days after the deal, Prime Minister Papandreou unexpectedly announced a referendum on the deal in an apparent attempt to boost his quickly waning popularity and to give voters an opportunity to weigh in on the plan and its attendant austerity measures. The move rankled several European leaders and members of the opposition and revealed a split within his governing Socialist party. Papandreou backtracked and called off the referendum after Antonis Samaras, leader of the opposition New Democracy Party, said the party would support the bailout package. Papandreou emerged badly scarred from the turmoil, but he survived a confidence vote in Parliament on November 4. Two days later, he announced the formation of a transitional unity government to manage implementation of the package and that he would resign after the country held early elections. Lucas Papademos, a former vice-president of the European Central Bank, was named as Papandreou's successor.

See also Encyclopedia: Greece
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes: Greece
National Statistical Service www.statistics.gr/ .

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