Greece

**Greece**
1/29/09 1. Background
 * **Annual data** || **2007(a)** || **Historical averages (%)** || **2003-07** ||
 * Population (m) || 11.0 || Population growth || 0.0 ||
 * GDP (US$ bn; market exchange rate) || 312.8(b) || Real GDP growth || 4.4 ||
 * GDP (US$ bn; purchasing power parity) || 323.0(b) || Real domestic demand growth || 4.5 ||
 * GDP per head (US$; market exchange rate) || 28,466 || Inflation || 3.2 ||
 * GDP per head (US$; purchasing power parity) || 29,398 || Current-account balance (% of GDP) || -8.9 ||
 * Exchange rate (av)€:US$ || 0.7(b) || FDI inflows (% of GDP) || 0.9 ||
 * (a) Economist Intelligence Unit estimates. (b) Actual. ||

After 400 years of Ottoman rule, Greece emerged as a nation state in 1830. A devastating civil war followed the retreat of German occupying forces in 1944. The rebuilding of the shattered economy was launched with Marshall Plan aid, but left-right antagonism persisted. Between 1967 and 1974 a military junta ruled the country, but since then an effective democracy has been in place. In 1981 Greece joined the European Community, now the EU, and became a member of economic and monetary union at the start of 2001.
 * Background:**
 * Background:**
 * Policy issues:** The focus is on tackling unemployment, improving the quality of public administration, making public or partly public-sector companies profitable, improving conditions for domestic and foreign private-sector investment, and updating the country's infrastructure with the help of EU grants. However, opposition to administrative and economic reform is strong. The government has faced down entrenched opposition to pass a pension reform package, but its scope is modest. The public finances have improved, but it is not yet clear whether this will be sustained. Foreign-policy priorities will be to improve relations with Turkey and support EU entry for the west Balkan countries.
 * Taxation:** The corporate tax rate on income earned was cut from 29% in 2006 to 25% in 2007, and the lowest tax rate for personal income was cut from 22% for income in 2006 to 20% in 2007. The basic top rate for personal income tax remains at 40%. Value-added tax (VAT) is levied at rates of 19%, 8% and 4.5%.
 * Foreign trade:** Merchandise exports amounted to US$23.9bn in 2007 and imports to US$80.8bn, while the current-account deficit was US$44.4bn.
 * Official name**-Hellenic Republic


 * Legal system**-Based on the constitution of 1975


 * National legislature** -Unicameral Vouli (parliament) of 300 members, which is directly elected by a form of proportional representation for a four-year term, although early dissolution is possible


 * Electoral system**-Universal direct suffrage over the age of 18


 * National elections**-September 16th 2007 (legislative); February 2005 (presidential). The next legislative election is due by September 2011 and the next presidential election by February 2009


 * Head of state**-President, without executive powers, elected by parliament for a five-year term. The president must be elected by a two-thirds majority or, on the third ballot, by a three-fifths majority. Should this not be possible, parliament is dissolved, an election is held, and the president can be elected by a simple majority of deputies in the new house. Karolos Papoulias, a former minister of foreign affairs under a Panhellenic Socialist Movement government, was elected on March 12th 2005


 * National government**-Council of Ministers responsible to the legislature, headed by a prime minister appointed by the president on the basis of ability to gain the support of parliament. A New Democracy government was elected on September 16th 2007, with Costas Karamanlis as prime minister


 * Main political parties**-New Democracy (ND); Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok); Communist Party of Greece (KKE); Coalition of the Radical Left (SyRizA); Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS)
 * Political structure:** Greece is a parliamentary republic. The prime minister and the government hold executive powers. The president is elected by the 300-member parliament to serve a five-year term. The government must have the support of parliament to hold office.

· Violence erupted on an unprecedented scale after Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old schoolboy, was shot dead by a policeman in Exarchia, a scruffy central district known as the anarchists’ home base, on Saturday December 6th. · Hundreds of high-school students battled police after the teenager’s funeral in the Faliron suburb, while other protesters threw rocks at those on guard outside parliament. · Appeals for calm by Costas Karamanlis, the Conservative prime minister, were ignored. Talks have failed between political leaders who were seeking a consensus to quell the unrest. George Papandreou, the Socialist opposition leader, has told Mr Karamanlis to resign and call a general election. “Effectively there is no government…we claim power,” he said. · Weak policing has allowed the anarchists to flourish in Exarchia, which has become a haven for drug dealers and racketeers. · Protesters have also exploited a constitutional loophole that bans police from entering a university campus. · Oakland riots: According to the San Fransisco Chronicle: A young man allegedly involved in a fight aboard a BART train was shot to death by a BART police officer on the platform of the Fruitvale Station early New Year's Day, in the midst of a brawl between two groups of young train passengers. The shooting occurred around 2:15 a.m. after police responded to a report of a fight on a train bound for Dublin/Pleasanton. A protest over the fatal shooting mushroomed into several hours of violence Jan 7 as demonstrators smashed storefronts and cars, set several cars ablaze and blocked streets in downtown **Oakland**. As of Jan. 8 the violence led to 105 arrests and damaged 300 downtown businesses. Riots in Greece (with a case study of recent riots in Oakland) Jan 20, 2009 Information on the violence from the economist- published on Dec. 9, 2008 Basic facts on Greece from the economist- published on Dec. 18, 2008
 * Prime minister:** Constantine Karamanlis
 * 2.** **Riots**
 * 3.** **Possible Comparisons**