Members of the judiciary are recommended by the Minister of Justice. Administrative duties are vested upon the various ministries in the country. Members of the Greek cabinet are appointed by the President, on recommendations from the Prime Minister. They form the Ministerial Council together with the Prime Minister, which directs the general policy of Greece.
Greece is made up of 13 regional administrative districts, and the head is the governor. The districts are further divided into 51 prefectures, each led by a prefect elected through a direct vote. There are also municipalities whose head is an elected official. Benjamin Elisha Sawe August 14 in Society. All About the "Stan" Countries.
Greece is divided into 51 prefectures, each headed by a prefect, who is elected by direct popular vote. There are also 13 regional administrative districts peripheries , each including a number of prefectures and headed by a regional governor periferiarch , appointed by the Minister of the Interior.
In northern Greece and in greater Athens, three areas have an additional administrative position between the nomarch and periferiarch. This official, known as the president of the prefectural local authorities or "super nomarch," is elected by direct popular vote.
Although municipalities and villages have elected officials, they do not have an adequate independent tax base and must depend on the central government for a large part of their financial needs. Consequently they are subject to numerous central government controls. Under the Greek constitution, education is the responsibility of the state. Most Greeks attend public primary and secondary schools. There are a few private schools, which must meet the standard curriculum of and be supervised by the Ministry of Education.
The Ministry of Education oversees and directs every aspect of the public education process at all levels, including hiring all teachers and professors and producing all required textbooks. The Greek Orthodox Church is under the protection of the state, which pays the clergy's salaries, and Orthodox Christianity is the "prevailing" religion of Greece according to the constitution.
The Muslim minority, concentrated in Thrace, was given legal status by provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne in and is Greece's only officially recognized minority. The Greek media, collectively, is a very influential institution--usually aggressive, sensationalist, and frequently irresponsible with regard to content.
Objectivity as known to the U. Most of the media are owned by businessmen with extensive commercial interests in other sectors of the economy. They use their newspapers, magazines, and radio and TV channels to promote their commercial enterprises as well as to seek political influence. In , the Ministry of Press and Information was established to deal with media and communication issues.
ERT S. The Minister of Press also serves as the primary government spokesman. For international news, CNN is a particular influence in the Greek market; the major TV channels often use it as a source. State and private TV stations also use "Eurovision" and "Visnews" as sources.
While few papers and stations have overseas correspondents, those few correspondents abroad can be very influential. In , a new law provided the legal framework for the establishment of private radio stations and, as of , private TV stations. According to the law, supervision of radio and television is exercised by the National Radio and Television Council. In practice, however, official licensing has been delayed for many years.
Because of this, there has been a proliferation of private radio and TV stations, as well as European satellite channels, including Euronews; more than 1, radio stations are currently operating in Greece. The Greek Government is now implementing its plans to reallocate TV frequencies and issue licenses, authorized by the Media Law. Greece's embassy in the U. The Greek economy is slowly coming out of a slump caused by a drop in investment and the implementation of stabilization policies in recent years.
Greece remains a net importer of industrial and capital goods, foodstuffs, and petroleum. Leading exports are manufactured goods, food and beverages, petroleum products, cement, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.
The development of the modern Greek economy began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the adoption of social and industrial legislation and protective tariffs and the creation of the first industrial enterprises. Industry at the turn of the century consisted primarily of food processing, shipbuilding, and the manufacture of textiles and simple consumer products. Greece achieved high rates of growth in the late s and early s due to large foreign investments.
In the mids, Greece suffered declines in its GDP growth rate, ratio of investment to GDP, and productivity, and real labor costs and oil prices rose. In , protective barriers were removed when Greece joined the European Community. The government pursued expansionary policies, which fueled inflation and caused balance-of-payment difficulties. Growing public sector deficits were financed by borrowing. In October , supported by a 1.
Greece continued to rely on foreign borrowing to finance its deficits. Greece, as a member of the EU, is currently striving to reduce its budget deficit and inflation rate in order to meet the prerequisites for the European monetary union.
Although growth remained above the convergence program guidelines, high budget deficits and deficient infrastructure continue to dampen the economy's long-term potential growth rate. In May , the Bank of Greece successfully managed a currency crisis triggered by the lifting of currency restrictions on short-term capital movements. In less than 2 months, with speculation on the drachma no longer a threat, interest rates returned to normal levels. A similar wave of speculation was beaten back in fall , following the Asian financial crisis.
One of the successes of recent Greek economic policy has been the reduction of inflation rates. For more than 20 years, inflation hovered in the double digits, but a combination of fiscal consolidation, wage restraint, and strong drachma policies resulted in lowered inflation. Inflation fell to 2. High interest rates have been a significant problem, despite recent cuts in both treasury bill and bank rates for savings and loans.
The government's strong drachma policy and Public Sector Borrowing Requirement PSBR make the lowering of interest rates difficult, but progress was made in and rates are gradually declining in line with inflation. Services, including tourism, make up the largest and fastest-growing sector of the Greek economy, accounting for about Tourism is a major source of foreign exchange earnings. Although it is one of the country's most important industries, it has been slow to expand and suffers from poor infrastructure.
With more than 10 million tourists visiting Greece in , the tourist industry faced declining revenues, partly due to the strong drachma. The food industry is one of the most profitable and fastest-growing areas of manufacturing with significant export potential. High-technology equipment production, especially for telecommunications, is also a fast-growing sector. Other important areas include textiles, building materials, machinery, transport equipment, and electrical appliances.
Greece is traditionally a seafaring nation and has built an impressive shipping industry based on its geographic location and the entrepreneurial ability of its ship owners. The Greek-owned fleet all flags totaled 3, ships million DWT in Construction activity about 7.
The centerpiece of this effort will be the construction of a new international airport near Athens. In addition, the Athens subway system is being greatly expanded, and construction or expansion of roads, railway lines, and bridges is either underway or planned. Greece must realign its economy as part of an extended transition to full EU membership that began in Greek businesses are adjusting to competition from EU firms and the government has had to liberalize its economic and commercial regulations and practices.
However, Greece has been granted waivers from certain aspects of the EU's single market program. Historically, Greece has been a net beneficiary of the EU budget. These funds contribute significantly to Greece's current accounts balance and reduce the state budget deficit. This level of assistance was continued in and finances major public works and economic development projects, upgrades competitiveness and human resources, improves living conditions, and addresses disparities between poorer and more developed regions of the country.
Greek refusal to recognize F. Greece was adamantly opposed to the use of the name "Macedonia" by the government in Skopje, claiming that the name is intrinsically Greek and should not be used by a foreign country. Furthermore, Greece believes that an independent "Republic of Macedonia" bordering the Greek region of Macedonia would fuel irredentist tensions in F.
The dispute led to a Greek trade embargo against F. Mediation efforts by the UN, U. Since the signing of these interim accords, the two governments have concluded agreements designed to facilitate the movement of people and goods across their common border and improve bilateral relations. Talks on remaining issues are still being held under UN auspices in New York.
Greece restored diplomatic relations with Albania in , but the Greek Government did not formally lift the state of war, declared during World War II, until After the fall of the Albanian communist regime in , relations between Athens and Tirana became increasingly strained because of widespread allegations of mistreatment by Albanian authorities of the Greek ethnic minority in southern Albania.
A wave of Albanian illegal economic migrants to Greece exacerbated tensions. The crisis in Greek-Albanian relations reached its peak in the summer of , when an Albanian court sentenced five members a sixth member was added later of the ethnic Greek organization "Omonia" to prison terms on charges of undermining the Albanian state.
Greece responded by freezing all EU aid to Albania and deporting tens of thousands of illegal Albanians. In December , however, Greece began to permit limited EU aid to Albania, while Albania released two of the Omonia defendants and reduced the sentences of the remaining four. Today, relations between the two countries are good, and, at the Albanian Government's request, about Greek military personnel are stationed in Albania to assist with training and restructuring the Albanian armed forces.
Greece and Turkey enjoyed good relations in the s, but relations began to deteriorate in the mids, sparked by the Cyprus independence struggle and Turkish violence directed against the Greek minority in Istanbul. The July coup against Cyprus President Makarios -- inspired by the Greek military junta in Athens -- and the subsequent Turkish military intervention in Cyprus helped bring about the fall of the Greek military dictatorship.
It also led to the de facto division of Cyprus. Since then, Greece has strongly supported Greek-Cypriot efforts, calling for the removal of Turkish troops and the restoration of a unified state. The Republic of Cyprus has received strong support from Greece in international forums. The Prime Minister is Head of Government. The Ministerial Council, consisting of the Prime Minister, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Ministers without portfolio, is the collective decision-making body that constitutes the Government of Greece.
Legislative power is exercised by Parliament and the President of the Republic. Executive power is exercised by the President of the Republic and the Government.
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