Yearbook 2007
Greece. According to
CountryAAH, at least 67 people were killed and 200,000
hectares of coniferous forests, olive groves and
agricultural land were ravaged by violent fires in August,
especially in the southern part of the mainland. Many
suspected that the fires were caused by people who wanted to
clear land in order to build tourist facilities and other
buildings.
Just before the fires broke out, Prime Minister Kostas
Karamanlis had announced his election to Parliament on
September 16. Georgios Papandreou, leader of the largest
opposition party of the All-Greek Socialist Movement
(PASOK), accused during the Karamanlis election campaign of
trying to whip up a national crisis atmosphere in order to
unite the country around the government. In the election,
Karamanli's conservative party New Democracy (ND) lost 13
seats, but still became the largest party with 42 percent
and could continue to govern. PASOK gained 38 percent,
including a decline. Two small parties on the left, the
Greek Communist Party (KKE) and the Left Coalition (SYRIZA)
went ahead strongly and the right-wing People's Orthodox
Alarm (LAOS) got its first 10 seats in parliament.
Tens of thousands of students and university employees
demonstrated on a number of occasions during the spring
against the government's plans to privatize some
universities and colleges. Several of the demonstrations in
Athens degenerated into crows as the police deployed tear
gas to the protesters. Many universities were closed for
several months due to strikes in connection with the
protests.
The European Commission announced on 7 May that Greece had
reduced its budget deficit in accordance with EU convergence
requirements. In 2005, the Greek deficit was 5.5 per cent of
GDP, but in 2007 it was expected to have fallen to 2.4 per
cent.
Military dictatorship
Two military coups were being prepared in the run-up to
the elections. Behind one plan was the General Staff and the
Royal House, behind the other a group of lower officers led
by Colonel Papadopoulos. Both groups expected the Center
Union to win the election and that would prevent it. The
so-called "colonels" were the fastest, and on April 21,
1967, the generals of Papadopoulos and Patakos, as well as
Colonel Makarezos, took power with the help of 150 tanks and
3,000 soldiers. Papadopoulos was in a position to follow the
coup plans of the General Staff and advance them. At the
same time, he had close contact with the CIA and was able to
secure US support. Papadopoulos also had access to NATO's
mobilization plan, Prometheus. The plan contained the names
and addresses of all communists and left-wing radicals to be
arrested in the event of attacks from the east.
Constantine was understandably unhappy with the colonels'
coup because they got him in the lead, but he cooperated
with them and signed their decrees from day one. His
so-called counter-coup in December 1967 was a great farce.
It was so poorly prepared that the junta knew the plan in
detail. Probably Constantine did not try to take power, but
to "save face". It did not succeed. After the junta, a
referendum was held on whether the king should be allowed to
return. The people rejected him. His role in the first phase
of junta was crucial to the rejection of the people.
1974 Return to democracy
The military junta, led by Papadopoulos, had promised the
people and soldiers "100 years of military rule" at the
coup, but so long did not go. It worked for seven years and
was supported by the United States, which is why it was
allowed to sit for so long. Support for the dictatorship of
the Greek major capitalists - Onassis and Niarchos - also
played a key role. An international scandal took place
before the US realized that the military junta had to be
removed. Already in 1973-74 the support for the colonels was
very poor. In 73, the colonels attacked protest
demonstrations at the Polytechnic University of Athens.
Several hundred students were injured, leading to
international condemnation. In July 74, the Papadopoulos
regime conducted a coup against President Vaneziz Makarios
in Cyprus, which led to Turkish invasion and division of the
island. After this unsuccessful interference in Cyprus's
affairs, a group of officers decided to remove the junta and
ask Karamanlis to return from his exile in Paris. In the
first election after the military dictatorship in November
1974, Karamanlis got 54% of the vote. A subsequent
referendum abolished the monarchy. In June 1975, a new
constitution was adopted and one of Karamanlis' supporters,
Constantino Tsatsos, was elected prime minister.
From 1974, Greece no longer decided to participate in
NATO military exercises because of the conflict with NATO
partner Turkey. This decision was upheld until 1980.
At the 1981 general elections, the Panhellenic Socialist
Movement (PASOK), led by Andreas Papandreu, won a
comfortable victory. The first Social Democratic government
in the history of Greece could thus take power. That year,
the country became the 10th member of the EC. The new
government sought an approximation to the Third World,
especially the Arab world, recognized the PLO and staged a
worldwide campaign to return aboriginal cultural treasures
to the country of origin from the former colonial powers.
In 1983, the government froze wages, triggering a wave of
protests and strikes, the largest in the public sector,
which, however, reduced their right to strike. The 1983
census showed that women made up a third of the country's
economically active population, predominantly employed in
the service sector, and were paid lower than men. Among the
economically active women, 40% were farmers - without
including the 400,000 women who worked on family farms
without earning wages. The feminist movement was confined to
intellectual sectors in the larger cities.
In the 1984 elections, PASOK won again, and this time by
an even larger margin than in 81. The constitutional
amendment in 86 gave greater powers to Parliament at the
expense of the presidential office. The repeated crisis
packages and the freezing of wages led to new protests and
strikes. In November 88, information about the embezzlement
was presented to the Bank of Crete. A scandal involving
several ministers and led to several ministerial crises. The
following year, the Greek Left Party and the Communist Party
formed the Left Coalition.
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