2. Geography of Greece
• Location: Southeastern Europe, bordering the
Aegean Sea, the Ionian Sea, and the
Mediterranean Sea, between Albania and
Turkey
• Area
▫ Total: 131,957 sq km
▫ Country comparison to the world: 97
▫ Land: 130,647 sq km
▫ Water: 1,310 sq km
• Area – comparitive: Slightly smaller than
Alabama
• Land boundaries
▫ Total: 1,228 km
▫ Border countries: Albania 282 km, Bulgaria
494 km, Republic of Macedonia 246 km,
Turkey 206 km
• Coastline: 13,676 km
4. Religion in Greece
• Among Greece’s religions, the biggest
denomination is the Greek Orthodox Church, to
which the majority of Greeks belong to, and is
legally recognized as the “prevailing religion” of
Greece, which makes it one of the only European
states with an official state religion.
• Other significant Christian denominations include
Catholicism, Hellenic Neopaganism, and
Protestantism; the second largest religion practiced
in Greece is Islam.
• A 2010 Eurobarometer Poll indicated that 79% of
Greek citizens believe in a God; 16% believed in
some sort of spirit or life force; 4% said they did not
believe there is any kind of God, spirit, or life force.
• A more recent survey, taken in April 2011, carried
out by Kapa Research (a major Greek polling firm)
per demand of To Vima newspaper, asking Greek
citizens if they believe in God or not, 56.3%
responded “yes”, 20% responded “probably yes”,
7.7% responded “probably no”, and 13% responded
“no”.
7. Background of Greece’s political system
• The political system of Greece functions in a parliamentary representative
democratic republic; the PM of Greece is the head of government and of a multi-
party structure.
• Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Hellenic Parliament.
• Between the reinstatement of democracy in 1974 and the debt crisis that hit
Greece in 2010, the political structure was governed by the liberal-conservative
New Democracy (Μέα Δημοκρατία – Nea Dimokratia, ΜΔ/ND) and the social-
democratic Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Πανελλήνιο οσιαλιστικό Ιίνημα –
Panellinio Sosialistiko Kinima, ΠΑΟΙ/PASOK).
• The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
8. Background of Greece’s political
system – cont.
• The 1975 constitution, which defines Greece as a “presidential parliamentary
republic”, lists general certain promises of civil freedoms, vesting the powers of the
head of state in a president who is elected by parliament.
• The Greek governmental system resembles that of other Western democracies, and it
has been characterized as a compromise between the French and German models.
• While the PM and cabinet play the important role in the political procedure, the
president, in addition to formal duties, executes some executive and legislative
duties.
• Voting in Greece is necessary, though not obligatory.
• Greek politics is depicted as dynastic, with deep-rooted political families in charge of
the positions of power.
• This is undoubtedly true for the PMs, even though there are many Ministers and MPs
without relation to political families.
9. Government of Greece
• Capital (and largest city): Athens
• Official language(s): Greek
• Demonym: Greek, Hellenic
• Government: Unitary parliamentary
constitutional republic
• President: Karolos Papoulias
• Prime Minister: Antonis Samaras
• Speaker: Vangelis Meimarakis
• Legislature: Parliament
10. Parties represented in the current
Parliament and European Parliament
• New Democracy (Νέα Δημοκπαηία; ND, Μ.Δ.)
• Coalition of the Radical Left (ςναζπιζμόρ ηηρ
Ριζοζπαζηικήρ Απιζηεπάρ; SYRIZA, Υ.ΡΘΖ.Α.)
• Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Πανελλήνιο
οζιαλιζηικό Κίνημα; PASOK, ΠΑ.Ο.Ι.)
• Independent Greeks (Ανεξάπηηηοι Έλληνερ;
ANEL, ΑΜ.ΕΚ.)
• Golden Dawn (Χπςζή Αςγή; Chrysi Avgi, Χρυσή
Αυγή)
• Democratic Left (Δημοκπαηική Απιζηεπά;
DIMAR, ΔΗΛ.ΑΡ.)
• Communist Party of Greece (Κομμοςνιζηικό
Κόμμα Ελλάδαρ; KKE, Ι.Ι.Ε.)
• Agreement for the New Greece (ςμθωνία για ηη
Νέα Ελλάδα; NEEL, ΜΕΕΚ)
• Popular Orthodox Rally (Λαϊκόρ Οπθόδοξορ
ςναγεπμόρ; LAOS, ΚΑ.Ο..)
• Ecologist Greens (Οικολόγοι Ππάζινοι; OP, Ο.Π.)
11. Karolos Papoulias
• Born 4 June 1929 in Ioannina.
• Current president of Greece, serving since 12 March
2005.
• Served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from
1985-1989 and from 1993-1996.
• Is Major General Gregorios Papoulias’ son.
• Studied law at the University of Athens and the
University of Milan; has a doctorate in private
international law from the University of Cologne,
and is an associate of the Munich Institute for
Southeast Europe.
• His native Greek aside, he speaks French, German,
and Italian.
• A former pole-vault and volley ball champion, he
has been chairman of the National Sports
Association since 1985.
• Is also a founding member and until recently
president of the Association for the Greek Linguistic
Heritage.
• Is married to Maria Panou, with whom he has three
daughters.
12. Antonis Samaras
• Born 23 May 1951 in Athens.
• PM of Greece since 20 June 2012.
• Leader of New Democracy, the major
conservative party in Greece, since 30
November 2009.
• Briefly served as Minister of Finance in
1989; subsequently served as Minister of
Foreign Affairs from 1989-1990 and again
from 1990-1992.
• Is known for a controversy in 1993, when he
effectively caused the New Democracy
government, which he was a member of, to
lose power; despite this, he rejoined that
party in 2004 and was elected its leader in a
narrowly fought intra-party election late in
2009.
• Is the seventh leader of New Democracy
since it was founded in 1974.
13. Vangelis Meimarakis
• Born 14 December 1953 in Athens; is a Cretan.
• Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament since 29 June 2012.
• Formerly Minister of National Defense of Greece.
• Joined New Democracy in 1974.
• Was involved in student union politics while he studied at
Panteion University; was a founding member of ONNED,
the New Democracy youth organization.
• Was named chairman of the ONNED Executive
Committee in 1984; led that organisation to its first
conference in March 1987.
• Has been a member of the New Democracy Central
Committee since the second party conference in
Thessaloniki.
• Was elected MP for the Athens B constituency for New
Democracy in the general elections if 1989 (June and
November), 1990, 1993, 1996, and 2000.
• Served as Deputy Minister for Culture (Sports) from
1992-1993.
• Was general secretary of New Democracy until his
nomination as Defence Minister on 15 February 2006.
• Is married to Ioanna Kolokota; they have two daughters.
14. New Democracy
• Main centre-right political party; one of between
2004 and 2009two major parties in Greece.
• Antonis Samaras, its leader, is the PM of Greece.
• Founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and
made the Third Hellenic Republic’s first cabinet.
• After it served as Greece’s cabinet and was defeated
in a landslide in the 2009 Greek legislative election,
in which they received their historical lowest
percentage of votes, New Democracy acquired
more votes than any single party in the May 2012
legislative election, even though it did not make a
majority government.
• Won the most number of votes in the re-run of the
election held in June 2012, but failed to obtain a
complete majority.
• Nevertheless, it worked out a coalition with PASOK
(its primary historic competitor) and DIMAR,
making Samaras PM.
• Member of the EPP; currently has 7/22 Greek
MEPs in the EP.
15. Panhellenic Socialist Movement
• Centre-left party.
• Founded on 3 September 1974 by
Andreas Papandreou.
• Became the first social democratic
party in Greece to win a majority in
the Hellenic Parliament, in 1981.
• Member of Socialist International
(International affiliation),
Progressive Alliance of Socialists
and Democrats (EP group), and
Party of European Socialists
(European affiliation).
