Greece Passport

[Country Name] The Greek Republic.

【 Area 】 131957 square kilometers, of which 15% are islands.

【 Population 】 10.532 million people (2023). More than 98% are Greeks, while the rest are Muslims and other ethnic minorities. The official language is Greek, and Eastern Orthodoxy is the main religion.

【 Capital 】 Athens, with a population of 3.154 million people (2023). The highest temperature (July) is 18 ℃ -41 ℃, and the lowest temperature (January) is 0 ℃ -18 ℃.

【 Head of State 】 President Katerina Sakellaropoulou was sworn in on March 13, 2020, for a term of 5 years.

National Day: March 25th; Easter: the first Sunday after the full moon at the vernal equinox; Anti Italian Invasion Day: October 28th; Christmas: December 25th.

【 Overview 】 Located at the southernmost tip of the Balkan Peninsula. It is adjacent to Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia and Albania in the north, the European part of Türkiye in the northeast, the Ionian Sea in the southwest, the Aegean Sea in the east, and the African continent across the Mediterranean Sea in the south. The coastline is approximately 15021 kilometers long, and the width of the territorial sea is 6 nautical miles. It belongs to the subtropical Mediterranean climate. The average temperature is 0 ℃ -13 ℃ in winter and 23 ℃ -41 ℃ in summer.

Greece is the birthplace of Western civilization. The Minoan civilization appeared on Crete from 3000 BC to 1100 BC, and the Mycenaean civilization appeared on the Peloponnese Peninsula from 1600 BC to 1050 BC. The slave city-state was formed in 800 BC and reached its peak in the 5th century BC. It was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 146 BC. In the mid-15th century, it was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. In 1821, the War of Independence broke out. The kingdom was established in 1832. In 1974, it was changed to a republican system through a national referendum. Afterwards, the New Democratic Party and the Pan Greek Socialist Movement (referred to as the Pan Greek Socialist Movement) took turns in power. In January 2015, the Radical Left Alliance (abbreviated as the Left Alliance Party) came to power for the first time. In 2019, the New Democratic Party won the general election and became the ruling party again. They will continue to hold power in 2023.

Implement a parliamentary republic system in politics. The President is the head of state, serving a term of 5 years and can be re elected once.

The current Constitution came into effect on June 11, 1975 and was revised in 1986, 2001, 2008, and 2019. The constitution stipulates that the national system is a "presidential parliamentary republic", with the president as the head of state, legislative power to the parliament and president, executive power to the prime minister, and judicial power exercised by the courts. The constitutional amendment passed in 1986 abolished the significant power granted to the President by the 1975 Constitution, and the President no longer had the power to dissolve parliament. A national referendum could only be held upon the recommendation of the government and with the consent of a majority of members of parliament, reducing the actual power. The constitutional amendment passed in 2019 decoupled presidential elections from parliamentary elections.

[Parliament] unicameral system. The main function of parliament is to legislate and supervise the work of the government. The parliament is elected by universal suffrage from 56 constituencies nationwide, with a total of 300 members. The current parliament will be elected in June 2023 for a term of 4 years. Constantine An. Tassoulas was re elected as Speaker. The distribution of parliamentary seats is as follows: 156 seats for the New Democratic Party, 35 seats for the Leftist Party, 31 seats for the Panhellenic Movement for Change Party, 21 seats for the Communist Party of Greece, 11 seats for the Greek Solution Party, 11 seats for the New Left Party, 10 seats for the Greek Victory Party, 6 seats for the Free Route Party, 5 seats for the Spartan Party, and 14 seats for independent members of parliament.

On June 25, 2023, Greece held parliamentary elections, and the New Democratic Party won the election with 40.6% of the vote, securing 158 out of 300 seats and achieving re-election. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Chatzidakis, Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Gerapetris, Minister of Defense Nikos Dendias, Minister of Interior Thodoris Livanios, Minister of Education, Religion and Sports Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras Minister of Environment and Energy Theodoros Skylakakis, Minister of Development Takis Theodorikakos Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Niki Kerameos, Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis, Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis, Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, Minister of Immigration and Asylum Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Minister of Social Cohesion and Family Sophia Zacharaki, Minister of Agriculture Development and Food Kostas Tsiaras, Minister of Transport and Island Policy Christos Stylianidis Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni, Minister of Digital Governance Dimitris Papastergio Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Defense Vassilis Kikilias, Minister of State Makis Voridis, Minister of State Akis Skertsos, Deputy Minister of State and Director of the Prime Minister's Office Thanassis Kontoggiorgis, Deputy Minister of State and Government Spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis, and Deputy Minister of State and Director of the Prime Minister's Office George Mylonakis.

The country is divided into 13 provinces, namely Attica, Central Macedonia, East Macedonia Thrace, Epirus, West Macedonia, Thessaly, Central Greece, West Greece, Peloponnese, Ionian Islands, North Aegean, South Aegean, and Crete. There are 332 municipalities.

The highest judicial institutions include the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, and the procuratorial organs. The civil and criminal court systems include local courts, first instance courts, appellate courts, and the Supreme Court, while the administrative court system includes first instance courts, appellate courts, and the Supreme Administrative Court. Each level has corresponding procuratorates.

The main political parties are:

(1) New Democracy: Established in October 1974, founded by Konstantin Karamanlis. The party has been in power from 1974 to 1981, 1990 to 1993, 2004 to 2009, 2012 to 2014, and 2019 to 2023. Win the parliamentary elections in June 2023 and form a separate government. Chairman Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

(2) SYRIZA, Coalition of the Radical Left, also known as the Left, was founded in January 2004. It is composed of over ten small left-wing parties, mainly members of the pro Communist Party of Greece at that time. In the June 2012 parliamentary elections, it became the largest opposition party. The first party congress was held in 2013, officially completing the transformation from a campaign alliance to a political party. The party was in power from 2015 to 2019.

(3) PASOK Movement for Change: Established in November 2017 on the basis of the Panhellenic Movement. The founder of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement is Andrei Papandreou, who ruled the party from 1981-1989, 1993-2003, and from late 2009 to 2011; After the June 2012 general election, a coalition government was formed with the New Democratic Party and the Democratic Left. Chairman Nikos Androulakis.

(4) The Communist Party of Greece was founded in 1918. General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumpas.

(5) Greek Solution Party: Established in June 2016. The founder is Kyriakos Velopoulos, who first entered parliament in July 2019.

(6) New Left: It separated from the Leftist United Party in December 2023. The founder is Alexandros Charitsis.

(7) Greece Victory Party (NIKI): Established in June 2019. Founder and Chairman Dimitris Natsios, a conservative political party advocating adherence to Eastern Orthodox doctrine, first entered parliament in June 2023.

(8) Plesfi Eleftherias: Established in April 2016. Founder and Chairman Zoi Konstantopoulou entered parliament for the first time in June 2023.

(9) Spartans Party: Established in 2017, first entered parliament in June 2023. Founder and Chairman Vasilis Stigkas.

[Important Person] Katrina Sacralopolu: President. Born in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece in 1956, graduated from the Law School of the University of Athens, and later pursued graduate studies at the University of Paris II. Legal professionals with no political party background. In 1982, he entered the Supreme Administrative Court as a junior judge. In 1988, he was promoted to a second level judge in the Third Division (responsible for civil service disputes). In 2000, he was promoted to a first level judge in the Fifth Division (responsible for environmental law disputes). In 2015, he was appointed as the vice president in charge of the Third Division. In October 2018, he was elected as the president of the Supreme Administrative Court. Appointed as the President of Greece in March 2020.  

Kiriakos Mizotakis: Prime Minister. Born on March 4th, 1968. His father was a former Prime Minister of Greece, and his elder sister was former Mayor of Athens and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bagoyani. Graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor's degree in Social Studies and an MBA, and obtained a Master's degree in International Relations from Stanford University. In his early years, he worked as a senior executive at JPMorgan Chase and McKinsey&Company. Elected as a member of the Greek Parliament in 2004 and subsequently re elected until now. From June 2013 to January 2015, served as the Minister of Administrative Reform. Appointed as Prime Minister in July 2019 and re elected in June 2023.

Greece is a moderately developed country within the European Union, with a high degree of external dependence on its economy. The tertiary industry, supported by shipping, tourism, and commerce, accounts for over 70% of its gross domestic product. Since the end of 2009, Greece has been deeply mired in a sovereign debt crisis. The European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund have successively provided Greece with a rescue loan of 239 billion euros. In July 2015, Greece reached a third round of bailout agreement with the European Union worth a total of 82 billion euros. In August 2018, Greece officially withdrew from the bailout program. In September 2019, Greece lifted all capital controls. In June 2021, the European Union approved the "Greece 2.0 Recovery Plan", providing Greece with 30.5 billion euros in the EU Recovery Fund. In April 2022, Greece repaid the International Monetary Fund bailout loan ahead of schedule. In August, Greece withdrew from the EU to strengthen regulatory mechanisms. In recent years, the Greek government has actively implemented economic and social reforms, vigorously attracted investment, and is gradually getting rid of the negative impact of the Greek debt crisis. The main economic data for 2023 are as follows:

Gross Domestic Product: 194.5 billion euros.

The year-on-year growth rate of gross domestic product is 2%.

Currency: Euro.

Fiscal surplus: 3.69 billion euros, with a fiscal surplus rate of 1.4%.

Public debt: 406.52 billion euros, equivalent to 168% of GDP.

Inflation rate: 3.2%

Unemployment rate: 11%.

The main mineral resources include bauxite (with a storage capacity of about 1 billion tons), lignite (with a storage capacity of 5.8 billion tons), nickel, chromium, magnesium, asbestos, copper, uranium, gold, petroleum, marble, etc. The forest coverage rate is 17%.

Industry accounts for about 18.3% of the gross domestic product, with a relatively small scale. The main industries include mining, metallurgy, food processing, textiles, shipbuilding, and construction.

Greece belongs to the hilly region, with arable land accounting for 30% of the country's total area, of which irrigated agriculture accounts for 37%. 64% of arable land is planted with food crops, with the rest being fruit trees, olive trees, and vegetables. Agriculture accounts for approximately 4.5% of the gross domestic product. We hope that our main agricultural products can be self-sufficient, and fruits and vegetables can be exported in bulk to Europe and other places, with only a small amount of meat, milk, and blended agricultural products imported. The agricultural products that Xi exports include tobacco, cotton, olive oil, fruits, and sugar beets.

The service industry is an important component of the economy, accounting for about 70% of the gross domestic product.

The tourism industry is an important economic sector that aims to obtain foreign exchange sources and maintain international balance of payments. The tourism industry has developed rapidly since the 1960s. In recent years, the Greek government has shifted the focus of tourism development from increasing the number of tourists to improving their consumption level, achieving good economic and social benefits. In 2023, Greece's tourism industry performed outstandingly, receiving 32.7 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%, and the total tourism revenue reached 20.5 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 15.7%. The main tourist attractions include the Acropolis of Athens, the Temple of the Sun in Delphi, the ruins of the Olympic Stadium, the labyrinth of Crete, the Epidavos Amphitheatre, the tomb of the Macedonian king in Vergina, the Holy Mountain, Rhodes, and Corfu.

Domestic transportation mainly relies on highways and sea freight, supplemented by railways, while foreign trade mainly relies on sea freight.

Railway: The total length of Greek railways is about 2279 kilometers, with an annual freight volume of 1.358 million tons and an annual passenger volume of 16.795 million people. In 2021, the Greek government increased investment in the construction of subways and urban light rail, announcing that Athens will build a 13 kilometer, 1.6 billion euro subway line 4, which will be the largest public infrastructure project in Greece in the next decade. On February 28, 2023, a major train collision occurred in Greece. I hope the government can introduce measures to improve the railway safety system and promote the upgrading and transformation of the railway system.

Highways: The total length of highways in Greece is approximately 2500 kilometers. In recent years, with the support of the European Union, the Greek government has vigorously developed infrastructure, including highways, airports, bridges, and other transportation hub facilities. There has been a significant increase in the construction of high-grade highways and urban main roads, resulting in a significant improvement in urban transportation conditions. In 2023, the number of passenger cars in Greece is approximately 5.88 million.

Shipping: Greece is a major shipping country in the world, and the shipping industry is an important pillar industry of the national economy. The maritime industry provides employment opportunities for about 200000 people. In addition to the more than 60000 Greek sailors working on ships, the financial, insurance, consulting services, marine equipment, maintenance and other related industries driven by the maritime industry have absorbed 130000 laborers. In Piraeus Port alone, there are more than 1000 enterprises engaged in business activities related to the maritime industry. There are 150 rare types of ports, mainly including Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Volos, Patras, and Iraklion. As of 2021, Greece has a total of 1831 vessels of over 100 tons, with a total load capacity of 39.33 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 2.7%. In 2023, Greek shipowners will control approximately 21% of global shipping capacity and 60% of EU ship tonnage, with a total of 5543 merchant ships; The Greek shipping industry contributes over 11 billion euros to the economy, accounting for 6.5% of GDP and contributing over 3% to employment.

Air freight: Aegean Airlines is the largest airline in Greece, founded in 1987, providing regular and charter services from Athens and Thessaloniki to other major Greek cities and some major European cities. There are 40 airports nationwide. The main airports include Vinizelos International Airport in Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete, and Rhodes Island Airport.

The recent fiscal situation is as follows (in billions of euros)