Greece - Korina Miller [24]
Papandreou stepped down in early 1996 due to ill health and he died on 26 June. His departure produced a dramatic change of direction for PASOK, with the party abandoning Papandreou’s left-leaning politics and electing experienced economist and lawyer Costas Simitis as the new prime minister (who won a comfortable majority at the October 1996 polls).
The 21st Century
The Simitis government focused almost exclusively on the push for further integration with Europe. This meant, in general terms, more tax reform and austerity measures, and by 2004 PASOK’s popularity was in decline, and Georgios Papandreou replaced Simitis. Greece changed course when the ND party won the March 2004 general election, with Konstandinos Karamanlis as prime minister.
The new millenium has seen living standards increase and billions of euros poured into large-scale infrastructure projects across Greece, including the redevelopment of Athens – spurred on largely by its hosting of the 2004 Olympic Games. However, rising unemployment, ballooning public debt, slowing inflation and the squeezing of consumer credit have taken their toll. Public opinion soured further in 2007 when Karamanlis’ government was widely criticised for its handling of the emergency response to severe summer fires, which were responsible for widespread destruction throughout Greece. Nevertheless, snap elections held in September 2007 returned the conservatives, albeit with a diminished majority.
Over recent years, a series of massive general strikes and blockades have highlighted mounting electoral discontent. Hundreds of thousands of people have protested against proposed radical labour and pension reforms and privatisation plans that analysts claim will help curb public debt. The backlash against the government reached boiling point in December 2008, when urban rioting broke out across the country, led by youths outraged by the police shooting of a 15-year-old boy in Athens following an alleged exchange between police and a group of teenagers. Youths hurled stones and firebombs at riot police who responded with tear gas. Concern is growing over political tangles in an ongoing investigation regarding alleged corruption among state executives (on both sides of the political fence) in connection with the Siemens Hellas group. This follows another controversy that involved land-swap deals between a monastery and the government, which some commentators believe to have gone heavily in the monastery’s favour, at the expense of taxpayers. A general election held in October 2009, midway through Karamanlis’ term, saw PASOK take back the reins in a landslide win against the conservatives.
Greece continues to face the challenge of resolving its sometimes abrasive relationship with its Balkan neighbour, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), over the contentious issue of it adopting the nomenclature of Macedonia (a topic negotiated between the two nations via UN-mediated dialogue). Relations with Turkey these days are more neighbourly. Greece supports Turkey’s steps towards EU-ascension, and is urging joint action between the two nations to manage illegal immigration across Greece’s borders. But Greece has expressed rumblings of concern since Turkey declared its intention to explore for oil and gas in the eastern Aegean, sparking a diplomatic headache.
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TIMELINE
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7000–3000 BC For 4000 years the early inhabitants of the Greek peninsula live a simple agrarian life, growing crops and herding animals. Communities with housing and planned streets begin to appear by around 3000 BC.
3000–1100 BC The discovery of blending copper and tin into a strong alloy gives rise to the Bronze Age. Trade gains traction; increased prosperity sees the birth of the Cycladic and Minoan – and later, the Mycenaean – civilisations.
1700–1550 BC Santorini erupts with a cataclysmic explosion, one of the largest volcanic events in recorded history, causing a Mediterranean-wide tsunami that