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Country Commercial Guides
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CHAPTER III. POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
Greece is a parliamentary democracy. Under the constitution, the Greek President, at present Constantine Stephanopoulos, plays a largely ceremonial role. The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) won 162 out of 300 Parliamentary seats in the September 1996 national elections and formed a government led by Constantine Simitis, who had replaced Andreas Papandreou as Prime Minister in January 1996 and as President of the ruling party in late June 1996. The Simitis Government has stressed that it intends to focus on the full integration of Greece into EU institutions and the absorption of EU funds, and has committed itself to ensuring that Greece meets the Maastricht targets for joining Europe's Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).
The main opposition party is the conservative New Democracy (ND) party, whose current leader, Kostas Karamanlis, was elected to his post in March 1997. ND won 108 seats in parliament in national elections held in September 1996.
Greece's other political parties with parliamentary representation include the populist Democratic Social Movement (DHKKI), led by Dimitris Tsovolas; the socialist Coalition of the Left and Progress (Synaspismos), led by Nikos Constantopoulos; and the Communist Party (KKE), led by Aleka Papariga. The KKE is one of Europe's few remaining traditional Communist parties.
President Stephanopoulos was elected to a five-year term in April 1995. The process of selecting the next president in March 2000 could precipitate national parliamentary elections, which are otherwise scheduled to take place by September 2000. In October 1998 New Democracy made major gains in municipal and prefectural elections. In June 1999 elections for the European Parliament, New Democracy emerged with a plurality of votes (36% vs. PASOK's 32.9%) but this is not necessarily an indication of the parties' prospects in national elections.
The United States and Greece, both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), enjoy excellent bilateral relations. Prime Minister Simitis paid an official visit to Washington in April 1996; President Stephanopoulos visited in May of that year. Common strong democratic traditions, and a large and active Greek-American community, further strengthen ties between the two countries.
Current major issues which affect the business climate in Greece include: a) heightened anti-American feeling resulting from NATO military action against Yugoslavia; b) how to reduce a bloated state sector without inflicting unacceptable levels of economic hardship; c) tax reform (fighting tax evasion and trying to lighten the tax burden); d) government moves to restructure the labor market as part of an effort to free up the economy and meet EMU convergence targets; e) continuing tensions with Turkey in the Aegean and elsewhere; and f) the continuing operation of indigenous terrorist groups that denounce American foreign policy and Greek government privatization efforts, and have bombed foreign diplomatic missions and American business facilities as well as assassinated American, Turkish, and Greek officials and Greek businessmen.
Although the need to impose strong economic measures is often acknowledged even by the critics of the government, spending cuts are frequently resisted by opposition parties, professional associations, organized labor, and much of the mass media, as well as many politicians from all parties who wish to keep political patronage jobs alive.
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[end of document] Note* International Copyright, United States Government, 1998 (or other year of first publication). All rights under foreign copyright laws are reserved. All portions of this publication are protected against any type or form of reproduction, communications to the public and the preparation of adaptations, arrangement and alterations outside the United States. U. S. copyright is not asserted under the U.S. Copyright Law, Title 17, United States Code.
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