AnalysisGREECE
eve of WW1, divided the country into two opposing groups.
After WW1 Greece fought against Turkish nationalists and this war resulted in a massive population exchange between the two whilst instability followed. In 1940 Greece was first invaded by Italy and then occupied by Germany and the Greco- Italian War began which saw around 100,000 die and many Greek Jews deported to Nazi extermination camps.
After liberation a bitter civil war began which led to economic devastation and the next 20 years were characterised by rapid economic growth. In 1974 Greek forces withdrew from the integrated military structure of NATO in protest of Turkey’s occupation of northern Cyprus and the first multiparty elections were held which saw a democratic and republican constitution which abolished the monarchy.
Today Greece is a parliamentary republic and the head of state is the President of the Republic which is currently Karolos Papoulias whilst the Prime Minister is George Papandreou of the PASOK – Panhellenic Socialist Movement who came into power in 2009. Greece rejoined NATO in 1980 and strained relations with Turkey were improved when successive earthquakes hit both nations in 1999.
Greece later became the 10th member of the European Communities in 1981 ushering a period of remarkable and sustainable economic growth. Widespread investment in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure have both contributed, as well as funds from the EU and growing revenues from tourism. The country adopted the Euro in 2001 and hosted the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
highest population with 3.7 million and houses the capital Athens. This is followed by Central Macedonia with capital Thessaloniki with 1.8 million.
The land began with the Cycladic Civilisation of the Aegean Sea, the Minoan civilisation in Crete and then the Mycenaean civilisation on the mainland. Later city-states emerged across the peninsula and spread to the shores of the Black Sea, South Italy and Asia Minor which reached great levels of prosperity and resulted in a cultural boom expressed as such in architecture and philosophy.
The Hellenistic period was brought to a close when the Romans took over the rule of the Greek lands and many Greeks migrated to Asia and Africa. The mix of
The government has had to adopt a medium term
austerity program which includes
cutting government spending, freezing public sector
workers pay, cuts in civil servant
benefits, decreasing tax evasion, hiking
VAT from 11 per cent to 23 per cent for 30 per cent of goods
and services and fuel duty and reforming health and pension systems.
Roman and Hellenic cultures saw the start of the Byzantine Empire around 330AD which remained a major cultural and military power for the next 1,123 years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks.
After the Greek war of independence from 1821 and 1829 against the empire the Greek state was finally recognised and Ioannis Kapodistrias from Corfu was chosen as the first governor of the Republic.
As a result of the Balkan Wars Greece managed to increase the extent of its territory and population, whilst the struggle between the King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos over the country’s foreign policy on the
G3 I MAY 2011 I PAGE 55
Greece has a capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for around 40% of GDP. Tourism provides around 15 per cent of GDP. Immigrants make up around one fifth of the workforce.
The Greek economy expanded at a rate of around four per cent between 2004 and 2007 and two per cent during 2008 which was one of the highest in the Euro zone and was in part due to infrastructural spending related to the 2004 Olympic Games.
However in 2009 the worldwide recession hit, the GDP decreased by two per cent and in 2010 by 4.8 per cent. Last year the Greek economy faced its most severe crisis since 1974 as the Greek government’s deficit reached 15.4 per cent of the GDP in 2009 (€36.2bn) whilst unemployment rose to 12 per cent last
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