Article 2
Article 5
Article 6
Article 7
Article 8
Article 9
Article 10
Article 11
Article 12
Article 13
Article 14
Article 15
Article 16
Article 17
Article 18
Article 19
Article 20
Article 21
Article 22
Article 23
Article 24
Article 25
Greece - Overview
I. Introduction
Greece, country in southeastern Europe, occupying the southernmost part
of the Balkan Peninsula and numerous islands in the Aegean Sea and
Ionian Sea. The total area is 131,957 sq. km (50,949 sq. mi.) Athens is
the capital and largest city.
II. Land and Resources
Greece has a diverse topography with a great variety of vegetation. The
central mountain area consists of the Pindus Mountains, which run north
to south and are sparsely populated. There is also a damp, mountainous
region in the west. Eastern Thessaly (Thessalia), Macedonia, and Thrace
have dry, sunny plains and low mountain ranges. Central Greece contains
the Athenian plain, Greece's most famous region. The Peloponnisos peninsula
in the south is mountainous with narrow valleys. The islands, most of which
are in the Aegean, are high, stony, and dry. Mount Olympus (2917 m/9570
ft), Greece's highest peak, was considered in ancient times to be the home
of the gods.
With a typical Mediterranean climate, Greece's lowlands have hot, dry summers
and rainy winters. The mountain areas are much cooler, with considerable
rain in the summer and snow in the winter. Greece has few natural resources
of economic value. Exceptions include significant petroleum and natural
gas deposits, located under the Aegean Sea, near the island of
III. Population
The population of Greece (1997 estimate, 10,616,055) is about 98 percent
ethnic Greek and is large in relation to the size and economic capacity
of the country. Much poverty exists. Nearly all of the people are followers
of the Orthodox Church of Greece. The great majority of Greeks speak Modern
Greek. Demotike, the vernacular Modern Greek and language of popular literature,
is the official language. English and French are also widely spoken. Education
is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and
15.
IV. Economy
Agriculture plays an important role in the economy, and the leading cash
crop is tobacco. Leading manufactured products include food, basic metals
and metal products, refined petroleum , and machinery and transportation
equipment. Shipping and tourism are also major sources of income. The monetary
unit is the drachma (305 drachmas equal US$1 in 1999).
V. Government
The president, elected by parliament to a five-year term, designates a
premier from the majority (or strongest) party in parliament and must accept
the cabinet appointed by the premier. Under extraordinary circumstances,
the president may dismiss the premier and cabinet after consulting an advisory
body, the Council of the Republic. The parliament is chosen in direct elections.
Thirteen administrative regions are subdivided into departments. Mount
Athos, in northeastern Greece, is an autonomous district with a monastic
administration.
VI. History
The proximity of Greece's coast to the close-lying islands led to the development
of a homogeneous, maritime civilization in the area. However, the mountainous
geography cut the peninsula into small economic and political units called
city-states.
The Greeks developed a proud racial consciousness and called themselves
Hellenes. Out of the mythology that became the basis of an intricate religion,
the Hellenes developed a genealogy that traced their ancestry to semidivine
heroes (see Greek Mythology). The age of rule under wealthy commoners or
aristocrats, known as tyrants, (about 650-500 BC) was notable for advances
made in Hellenic civilization. Generally, the tyrants, who had replaced
oligarchs, were wise and popular rulers. In the wake of political and economic
strength came a flowering of Hellenic culture, especially in Ionia, where
a tradition of Greek philosophy began with the speculations of Thales,
Anaximander, and Anaximenes. Uniting ancient Greece were three factors:
cultural pursuits common to all the Hellenic cities, the Greek language,
and the Greek religion. The sanctuary of Delphi, with its oracle, became
the greatest national shrine. As a corollary to their religion, the Greeks
held four national festivals, called games—the Olympian, Isthmian, Pythian,
and Nemean. The Olympian Games were considered so important that
many Greeks dated their historical reckoning from the first staging of
the games, in 776 BC.
Between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, Athens and Sparta became the two
dominant cities of Greece. Sparta was a militarized and aristocratic
state, maintaining a strict rule over its conquered subjects, while Athens
unified the region of Attica by mutual and peaceful agreement. During
the rule of Pisistratus (560-527 BC), the Athenian government began to
take on elements of democracy. A constitution based on democratic
principles took effect about 502 BC, marking the dawn of the greatest period
of Athenian history, when the city became the world center for artistic
and intellectual endeavor.
In 546 BC, except for the island of Samos, the Greek cities in Asia and
the coastal islands became part of the Persian Empire. In 480 BC Athenian
troops defeated a huge Persian army; soon thereafter the invaders withdrew
from Greece. Athens became the most influential state in Greece,
and the period of Athenian domination under the rule of Pericles during
the 5th
Sparta, envious of Athenian prosperity, entered into the Peloponnesian
War against Athens in 431 BC. The struggle, which lasted until 404
BC, resulted in Spartan supremacy in Greece. In 403 BC the Athenians revolted
and restored their democracy and independence. Other Greek cities
consistently rebelled against Spartan control.
In the 4th century BC, Philip II, king of Macedonia, took advantage of
the lack of political unity in Greece and established his control
over the region. Philip was assassinated in 336 BC, and his son, Alexander,
who was then 20 years old, succeeded him (see Alexander the Great). In
334 BC Alexander set out to invade Persia. During the next ten years, his
conquests extended
In 215 BC Rome began to interfere in Greek affairs. After a war that destroyed
Corinth in 146 BC, Greek territories fell under direct Roman rule.
In 88 BC many cities of Greece supported Asian monarch Mithridates VI Eupator,
king of Pontus, in his attacks on Roman-controlled territories, because
he had promised to help the Greeks regain their independence.
In the 13th century the Crusaders interrupted the continuity of Byzantine
rule by conquering the Byzantine capital of Constantinople
(present-day Istanbul) and establishing the Latin Empire of the East. They
divided the Greek peninsula into feudal fiefs. By 1460 the Peloponnisos
and Attica had been incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, the powerful
Turkish state.For a brief period (1699-1718) Venice gained control of the
Peloponnisos, but otherwise Greece remained under firm Ottoman domination
until the 19th century. Because of the strategic importance of Greece,
the European powers agreed in 1827 to intervene militarily on behalf of
the Greeks, forcing a Turkish surrender. In 1830 France, Britain, and Russia
In an attempt to expand the territory of the kingdom, Greece declared war
on Turkey in 1878, beginning three decades of sporadic fighting,
during which European powers periodically intervened. Much of the fighting
revolved around the proposed union of Greece and Crete, held
by Turkey. In 1908 the Cretan assembly proclaimed the union, and in 1912
Cretan representatives sat for the first time in the Greek legislature.
Meanwhile, rising currents of nationalism in the Balkans, particularly
in Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania, led to the Balkan Wars (1912-1913). Turkey
was completely defeated in the First Balkan War and ceded Crete to
Greece. Upon the defeat of Bulgaria by Greece and Serbia in the Second
Balkan War,Greece's area and population almost doubled, as part of Macedonia
was added to its territory.
Greece proclaimed its neutrality when World War I began in 1914. In 1917
the Allies forced King Constantine I, who was sympathetic to Germany,
to abdicate the throne. Greece then entered the war on the Allied side.
In the postwar territorial settlements, Greece received western Thrace
from Bulgaria, eastern Thrace from Turkey, and many of the Aegean Islands.
George II was restored to the throne in late 1935. In 1936 General Ioannes
Metaxas led a coup d'etat, made himself dictator, and proclaimed a state
of martial law.
In 1940, during World War II, Greece was attacked by Italian troops. Although
the Greek army was unexpectedly successful against the Italians,
German troops overcame Greek resistance in 1941 and entered Athens, establishing
a National Socialist government. King George fled and established
a government-in-exile, first in Cairo, Egypt, and later in London.
In Greece during the war, the largest resistance group was the leftist
Ethnikon Apeleftherotikon Metopon (EAM; National Liberation Front), which
had its own army, the Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos (ELAS; National
Popular Liberation Army). In late 1943, following the Allied invasion
of Italy and the prospect of the liberation of Greece, the EAM and the
more conservative Ethnikos Demokratikos Ellenikos Syndesmos
(EDES; National Democratic Greek Union) began to fight for eventual
control of the country. The strife was only partially lessened when a coalition
government was agreed upon in May 1944.
In October 1944 the German army withdrew from Greece, and the new government
entered Athens. Civil war between the ELAS (which had refused to
disband) and the government forces began in December. The ELAS controlled
all of Greece except for a British-patrolled sector of Athens. In February
1945 the ELAS agreed to a truce.
In 1967, after several years of political instability, a military junta
overthrew the government and implemented oppressive rule. In
1973 the government abolished the monarchy and proclaimed Greece a republic.
Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos was named president. Turmoil in Cyprus
led the junta to step down in 1974. A referendum on the restoration of
the monarchy was then defeated, and a new republican constitution
was approved in 1975.
In the following decades the government changed frequently. In 1991 the
Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, Greece's northern neighbor, declared
its independence. Greece objected to the state's name and flag, claiming
that Macedonia was a Greek name, and that the flag appropriated a Greek
symbol. Greece also asserted that the republic's constitution implied
Επιστροφή Return
THE CONSTITUTION OF GREECE
In the name of the Holy and Consubstantial and
Indivisible Trinity
THE FIFTH REVISIONARY PARLIAMENT OF THE HELLENES
RESOLVES
PART ONE BASIC PROVISIONS
SECTION I THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT
Article 1
1. The form of government of Greece is that
of a parliamentary republic.
2. Popular sovereignty is the foundation of
government.
3. All powers derive from the People and exist
for the People and the Nation; they shall be exercised as specified by
the Constitution.
1. Respect and protection of the value of
the human being constitute the primary obligations of the State.
2. Greece, adhering to the generally recognised
rules of international law, pursues the strengthening of peace and of justice,
and the fostering of friendly relations between peoples and States.
SECTION II RELATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE
Article 3
1. The prevailing religion in Greece is that
of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ. The Orthodox Church of Greece,
acknowledging our Lord Jesus Christ as its head, is inseparably united
in doctrine with the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople and with
every other Church of Christ of the same doctrine, observing unwaveringly,
as they do, the holy apostolic and syn- odal canons and sacred traditions.
It is autocephalous and is administered by the Holy Synod of serving Bishops
and the Permanent Holy Synod originating thereof and assembled as specified
by the Statutory Charter of the Church in compliance with the provisions
of the Patriarchal Tome of June 29, 1850 and the Synodal Act of September
4, 1928.
2. The ecclesiastical regime existing in certain
districts of the State shall not be deemed contrary to the provisions of
the preceding paragraph.
3. The text of the Holy Scripture shall be
maintained unaltered. Official translation of the text into any other form
of language, without prior sanction by the Autocephalous Church of Greece
and the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople, is prohibited.
PART TWO INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL RIGHTS
Article 4
1. All Greeks are equal before the law.
2. Greek men and women have equal rights and
equal obligations.
3. All persons possessing the qualifications
for citizenship as specified by law are Greek citizens. Withdrawal of Greek
citizenship shall be permitted only in case of voluntary acquisition of
another citizenship or of undertaking service contrary to national interests
in a foreign country, under the conditions and procedures more specifically
provided by law.
4. Only Greek citizens shall be eligible for
public service, except as otherwise provided by special laws.
5. Greek citizens contribute without distinction
to public charges in proportion to their means.
6. Every Greek capable of bearing arms is
obliged to contribute to the defence of the Fatherland as provided by law.
7. Titles of nobility or distinction are neither
conferred upon nor recognized in Greek citizens.
1. All persons shall have the right to develop
freely their personality and to participate in the social, economic and
political life of the country, insofar as they do not infringe the rights
of others or violate the Constitution and the good usages.
2. All persons living within the Greek territory
shall enjoy full protection of their life, honour and liberty irrespective
of nationality, race or language and of religious or political beliefs.
Exceptions shall be permitted only in cases provided by international law.
The extradition of aliens prosecuted for their
action as freedom-fighters shall be prohibited. 3. Personal liberty is
inviolable. No one shall be prosecuted, arrested, imprisoned or otherwise
confined except when and as the law provides.
4. Individual administrative measures restrictive
of the free movement or residence in the country, and of the free exit
and entrance therein of every Greek shall be prohibited. Such measures
may be imposed in exceptional cases of emergency and only in order to prevent
the commitment of criminal acts, following a criminal court ruling, as
specified by law. In extremely urgent cases the ruling may be issued after
the administrative measure has been imposed and within three days at the
latest; otherwise it is lifted ipso jure.
Interpretative clause:
Paragraph 4 does not preclude the prohibition
of exit from the country for persons being prosecuted on criminal charges
by act of the public prosecutor, or the imposition of measures necessary
for the protection of public health or the health of sick persons, as specified
by law.
1. No person shall be arrested or imprisoned
without a reasoned judicial warrant which must be served at the moment
of arrest or detention pending trial, except when caught in the act of
committing a crime.
2. A person who is arrested in the act of
committing a crime or on a warrant shall be brought before the competent
examining magistrate within twenty-four hours of his arrest at the latest;
should the arrest be made outside the seat of the examining magistrate,
within the shortest time required to transfer him thereto. The examining
magistrate must, within three days from the day the person was brought
before him, either release the detainee or issue a warrant of imprisonment.
Upon application of the person brought before him or in case of force majeure
confirmed by decision of the competent judicial council, this time-limit
shall be extended by two days.
3. Should either of these time-limits elapse
before action has been taken, any warden or other officer, civil or military
servant, responsible for the detention of the arrested person must release
him immediately. Violators shall be punished for illegal detention and
shall be liable to restore any damage caused to the sufferer and to pay
him a monetary compensation for pain and suffering, as specified by law.
4. The maximum duration of detention pending
trial shall be specified by law; such detention may not exceed a period
of one year in the case of felonies or six months in the case of misdemeanours.
In entirely exceptional cases, the maximum durations may be extended by
six or three months respectively, by decision of the competent judicial
council.
1. There shall be no crime, nor shall punishment
be inflicted unless specified by law in force prior to the perpetration
of the act, defining the constitutive elements of the act. In no case shall
punishment more severe than that specified at the time of the perpetration
of the act be inflicted.
2. Torture, any bodily maltreatment, impairment
of health or the use of psychological violence, as well as any other offence
against human dignity are prohibited and punished as provided by law.
3. General confiscation of property is prohibited.
The death sentence shall not be imposed for political crimes, unless these
are composite.
4. The conditions under which the State, following
a judicial decision, shall indemnify persons unjustly or illegally convicted,
detained pending trial, or otherwise deprived of their personal liberty
shall be provided by law.
No person shall be deprived of the judge assigned
to him by law against his will.
Judicial committees or extraordinary courts,
under any name whatsoever, shall not be constituted.
1. Every person's home is a sanctuary. The
private and family life of the individual is inviolable. No home search
shall be made, except when and as specified by law and always in the presence
of representatives of the judicial power.
2. Violators of the preceding provision shall
be punished for violating the home's asylum and for abuse of power, and
shall be liable for full damages to the ufferer, as specified by law.
1. Each person, acting on his own or together
with others, shall have the right, observing the laws of the State, to
petition in writing public authorities, who shall be obliged to take prompt
action in accordance with provisions in force, and to give a written and
reasoned reply to the petitioner as provided by law.
2. Prosecution of the person who has submitted
a petition for punishable acts contained therein shall be permitted only
after notification of the final decision of the authority to which the
petition was addressed has taken place and after permission of this authority
has been obtained.
3. A request for information shall oblige
the competent authority to reply, provided the law thus stipulates.
1. Greeks shall have the right to assemble
peaceably and unarmed.
2. The police may be present only at outdoor
public assemblies. Outdoor assemblies may be prohibited by a reasoned police
authority decision, in general if a serious threat to public security is
imminent, and in a specific area, if a serious disturbance of social and
economic life is threatened, as specified by law.
1. Greeks shall have the right to form non-profit
associations and unions, in compliance with the law, which, however, may
never subject the exercise of this right to prior permission.
2. An association may not be dissolved for
violation of the law or of a substantial provision of its statutes, except
by court judgment.
3. The provisions of the preceding paragraph
shall apply, as the case may be, to unions of persons not constituting
an association.
4. Restrictions on the right of civil servants
to associate may be imposed by statute. Restrictions on this right may
also be imposed on employees of local government agencies or other public
law legal persons or public corporations.
5. Agricultural and urban cooperatives of
all types shall be self-governed according to the provisions of the law
and of their statutes; they shall be under the protection and supervision
of the State which is obliged to provide for their development.
6. Establishment by law of compulsory cooperatives
serving purposes of common benefit or public interest or common exploitation
of farming areas or other wealth producing sources shall be permitted,
on condition however that the equal treatment of all participants shall
be assured.
1. Freedom of religious conscience is inviolable.
The enjoy- ment of civil rights and liberties does not depend on the indivi-dual's
religious beliefs.
2. All known religions shall be free and their
rites of worship shall be performed unhindered and under the protection
of the law. The practice of rites of worship is not allowed to offend public
order or the good usages. Proselytism is prohibited.
3. The ministers of all known religions shall
be subject to the same supervision by the State and to the same obligations
toward it as those of the prevailing religion.
4. No person shall be exempt from discharging
his obligations to the State or may refuse to comply with the laws by reason
of his religious convictions.
5. No oath shall be imposed or administered
except as specified by law and in the form determined by law.
1. Every person may express and propagate
his thoughts orally, in writing and through the press in compliance with
the laws of the State.
2. The press is free. Censorship and all other
preventive measures are prohibited.
3. The seizure of newspapers and other publications
before or after circulation is prohibited.
Seizure by order of the public prosecutor
shall be allowed exceptionally after circulation and in case of:
4. In all the cases specified under the preceding
paragraph, the public prosecutor must, within twenty-four hours from the
seizure, submit the case to the judicial council which, within the next
twenty-four hours, must rule whether the seizure is to be maintained or
lifted; otherwise it shall be lifted ipso jure. An appeal may be lodged
with the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court by the
publisher of the newspaper or other printed matter seized and by the public
prosecutor.
5. The manner in which full retraction shall
be made in cases of inaccurate publications shall be determined by law.
6. After at least three convictions within
five years for the criminal acts defined under paragraph 3, the court shall
order the definitive ban or the temporary suspension of the publication
of the paper and, in severe cases, shall prohibit the convicted person
from practising the profession of journalist as specified by law. The ban
or suspension of publication shall be effective as of the date the court
order becomes irrevocable.
7. Press offences shall be subject to immediate
court hearing and shall be tried as provided by law.
8. The conditions and qualifications requisite
for the practice of the profession of journalist shall be specified by
law.
9. The law may specify that the means of financing
newspapers and periodicals should be disclosed.
1. The protective provisions for the press
in the preceding article shall not be applicable to films, sound recordings,
radio, television or any other similar medium for the transmission of speech
or images.
2. Radio and television shall be under the
immediate control of the State and shall aim at the objective transmission,
on equal terms, of information and news reports as well as works of literature
and art; the qualitative level of programs shall be assured in consideration
of their social mission and the cultural development of the country.
1. Art and science, research and teaching
shall be free and their development and promotion shall be an obligation
of the State. Academic freedom and freedom of teaching shall not exempt
anyone from his duty of allegiance to the Constitution.
2. Education constitutes a basic mission for
the State and shall aim at the moral, intellectual, professional and physical
training of Greeks, the development of national and religious consciousness
and at their formation as free and responsible citizens.
3. The number of years of compulsory education
shall be no less than nine.
4. All Greeks are entitled to free education
on all levels at State educational institutions. The State shall provide
financial assistance to those who distinguish themselves, as well as to
students in need of assistance or special protection, in accordance with
their abilities.
5. Education at university level shall be
provided exclusively by institutions which are fully self-governed public
law legal persons. These institutions shall operate under the supervision
of the State and are entitled to financial assistance from it; they shall
operate on the basis of statutorily enacted by-laws. Merging or splitting
of university level institutions may take place notwithstanding any contrary
provisions, as a law shall provide.
A special law shall define all matters pertaining
to student associations and the participation of students therein. 6. Professors
of university level institutions shall be public functionaries. The remaining
teaching personnel likewise perform a public function, under the conditions
specified by law. The statutes of respective institutions shall define
matters relating to the status of all the above.
Professors of university level institutions
shall not be dismissed prior to the lawful termination of their term of
service, except in the cases of the substantive conditions provided by
article 88 paragraph 4 and following a decision by a council constituted
in its majority of highest judicial functionaries, as specified by law.
The retirement age of professors of university
level institutions shall be determined by law; until such law is issued,
professors on active service shall retire ipso jure at the end of the academic
year at which they have reached the age of sixty-seven.
7. Professional and any other form of special
education shall be provided by the State, through schools of a higher level
and for a time period not exceeding three years, as specifically provided
by law which also defines the professional rights of the graduates of such
schools.
8. The conditions and terms for granting a
license for the establishment and operation of schools not owned by the
State, the supervision of such and the professional status of teaching
personnel therein shall be specified by law.
The establishment of university level institutions
by private persons is prohibited.
9. Athletics shall be under the protection
and the ultimate supervision of the State.
The State shall make grants to and shall control
all types of athletic associations, as specified by law. The use of grants
in accordance with the purpose of the associations receiving them shall
also be specified by law.
1. Property is under the protection of the
State; rights deriving therefrom, however, may not be exercised contrary
to the public interest.
2. No one shall be deprived of his property
except for public benefit which must be duly proven, when and as specified
by statute and always following full compensation corresponding to the
value of the expropriated property at the time of the court hearing on
the provisional determination of compensation. In cases in which a request
for the final determination of compensation is made, the value at the time
of the court hearing of the request shall be considered.
3. Any change in the value of expropriated
property occurring after publication of the act of expropriation and resulting
exclusively therefrom shall not be taken into account.
4. Compensation shall in all cases be determined
by civil courts. Such compensation may also be determined provisionally
by the court after hearing or summoning the beneficiary, who may be obliged,
at the discretion of the court, to furnish a commensurate guarantee for
collecting the compensation as provided by law.
Prior to payment of the final or provisional
compensation determined by the court, all rights of the owner shall be
maintained intact and occupation of the property shall not be allowed.
Compensation in the amount determined by the
court must in all cases be paid within one and one half years at the latest
from the date of publication of the decision regarding provisional determination
of compensation payable, and in cases of a direct request for the final
determination of compensation, from the date of publication of the court
ruling, otherwise the expropriation shall be revoked ipso jure.
The compensation as such is exempt from any
taxes, deductions or fees.
5. The cases in which compulsory compensation
shall be paid to the beneficiaries for lost income from expropriated property
until the time of payment of the compensation shall be specified by law.
6. In the case of execution of works serving
the public benefit or being of a general importance to the economy of the
country, a law may allow the expropriation in favour of the State of wider
zones beyond the areas necessary for the execution of the works. The said
law shall specify the conditions and terms of such expropriation, as well
as the matters pertaining to the disposal for public or public utility
purposes in general, of areas expropriated in excess of those required.
7. The digging of underground tunnels at the
appropriate depth without compensation, may be allowed by law for the execution
of works of evident public utility for the State, public law legal persons,
local government agencies, public utility agencies and public enterprises,
on condition that the normal exploitation of the property situated above
shall not be hindered.
1. The ownership and disposal of mines, quarries,
caves, archaeological sites and treasures, mineral, running and underground
waters and underground resources in general, shall be regulated by special
laws.
2. The ownership, exploitation and administration
of lagoons and large lakes, as well as the general disposal of areas resulting
from the draining of such, shall be regulated by law.
3. Requisitions of property for the needs
of the armed forces in case of war or mobilization, or for the purpose
of facing an immediate social emergency that may endanger public order
or health, shall be regulated by special laws.
4. The redistribution of agricultural areas
for the purpose of exploiting the land more profitably, as well as the
adoption of measures to prevent excessive parcelling or to facilitate restructuring
of small parcelled farm holdings, shall be allowed in accordance with the
procedure specified by special law.
5. In addition to the cases specified in the
preceding paragraphs, the law may provide for other necessary deprivations
of the free use and enjoyment of property, owing to special circumstances.
The law shall specify the obligor and the procedure of payment to the person
entitled to compensation for the use or enjoyment, which must be commensurate
to the conditions present on each occasion.
Measures imposed in accordance with this paragraph
shall be lifted as soon as the special reasons that necessitated them cease
to exist. In case of undue prolongation of the measures, the Supreme Administrative
Court shall decide on their revocation, by categories of cases, upon recourse
by any person having a legitimate interest.
6. A law may regulate the disposal of abandoned
lands for the purpose of revalorizing them to the benefit of the national
economy and the rehabilitation of destitute farmers. The same law shall
provide for the matters of partial or full compensation of owners, in case
of their reappearance within a reasonable time limit.
7. Compulsory joint ownership of adjoining
properties in urban areas may be introduced by law, if independent rebuilding
on the said properties or some of them does not conform with the applicable
or prospective building regulations in the area.
8. Farmlands belonging to the Patriarchal
Monasteries of Aghia Anastasia Pharmacolytria in Chalkidiki, of Vlatadhes
in Thessaloniki and Ioannis the Evangelist Theologos in Patmos, with the
exception of the dependencies thereof, cannot be subject to expropriation.
Likewise the property in Greece of the Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antiocheia
and Jerusalem and that of the Holy Monastery of Mount Sinai cannot be subject
to expropriation.
Secrecy of letters and all other forms of
free correspondence or communication shall be absolutely inviolable. The
guaranties under which the judicial authority shall not be bound by this
secrecy for reasons of national security or for the purpose of investigating
especially serious crimes, shall be specified by law.
1. Every person shall be entitled to receive
legal protection by the courts and may plead before them his views concerning
his rights or interests, as specified by law.
2. The right of a person to a prior hearing
also applies in any administrative action or measure adopted at the expense
of his rights or interests.
1. The family, being the cornerstone of the
preservation and the advancement of the Nation, as well as marriage, motherhood
and childhood, shall be under the protection of the State.
2. Families with many children, disabled war
and peace-time veterans, war victims, widows and orphans, as well as persons
suffering from incurable bodily or mental ailments are entitled to the
special care of the State.
3. The State shall care for the health of
citizens and shall adopt special measures for the protection of youth,
old age, disability and for the relief of the needy.
4. The acquisition of a home by the homeless
or those inadequately sheltered shall constitute an object of special State
care.
1. Work constitutes a right and shall enjoy
the protection of the State, which shall seek to create conditions of employment
for all citizens and shall pursue the moral and material advancement of
the rural and urban working population.
All workers, irrespective of sex or other
distinctions, shall be entitled to equal pay for work of equal value.
2. General working conditions shall be determined
by law, supplemented by collective labour agreements contracted through
free negotiations and, in case of the failure of such, by rules determined
by arbitration.
3. Any form of compulsory work is prohibited.
Special laws shall determine the requisition
of personal services in case of war or mobilization or to face defence
needs of the country or urgent social emergencies resulting from disasters
or liable to endanger public health, as well as the contribution of personal
work to local government agencies to satisfy local needs.
4. The State shall care for the social security
of the working people, as specified by law.
Interpretative clause:
The general working conditions include the
definition of the manner of collection and the agent obliged to collect
and return to trade unions membership fees, specified in their respective
by-laws.
1. The State shall adopt due measures safeguarding
the freedom to unionise and the unhindered exercise of related rights against
any infringement thereon within the limits of the law.
2. Strike constitutes a right to be exercised
by lawfully established trade unions in order to protect and promote the
financial and the general labour interests of working people.
Strikes of any nature whatsoever are prohibited
in the case of judicial functionaries and those serving in the security
corps. The right to strike shall be subject to the specific limitations
of the law regulating this right in the case of public servants and employees
of local government agencies and of public law legal persons as well as
in the case of the employees of all types of enterprises of a public nature
or of public benefit, the operation of which is of vital importance in
serving the basic needs of the society as a whole. These limitations may
not be carried to the point of abolishing the right to strike or hindering
the lawful exercise thereof.
1. The protection of the natural and cultural
environment constitutes a duty of the State. The State is bound to adopt
special preventive or repressive measures for the preservation of the environment.
Matters pertaining to the protection of forests and forest expanses in
general shall be regulated by law. Alteration of the use of state forests
and state forest expanses is prohibited, except where agricultural development
or other uses imposed for the public interest prevail for the benefit of
the national economy.
2. The master plan of the country, and the
arrangement, development, urbanisation and expansion of towns and residential
areas in general, shall be under the regulatory authority and the control
of the State, in the aim of serving the functionality and the development
of settlements and of securing the best possible living conditions.
3. For the purpose of designating an area
as residential and of activating its urbanisation, properties included
therein must participate, without compensation from the respective agencies,
in the disposal of land necessary for the construction of roads, squares
and public utility areas in general, and contribute toward the expenses
for the execution of the basic public urban works, as specified by law.
4. The law may provide for the participation
of property owners of an area designated as residential in the development
and general accommodation of that area, on the basis of an approved town
plan, in exchange for real estate or apartments of equal value in the parts
of such areas that shall finally be designated as suitable for construction
or in buildings of the same area.
5. The provisions of the preceding paragraphs
shall also be applicable in the rehabilitation of existing residential
areas. Spaces remaining free after rehabilitation shall be allotted to
the creation of common utility areas or shall be sold to cover expen-ses
incurred for the rehabilitation, as specified by law. 6. Monuments and
historic areas and elements shall be under the protection of the State.
A law shall provide for measures restrictive of private ownership deemed
necessary for protection thereof, as well as for the manner and the kind
of compensation payable to owners.
1. The rights of man as an individual and
as a member of the society are guaranteed by the State and all agents of
the State shall be obliged to ensure the unhindered exercise thereof.
2. The recognition and protection of the fundamental
and inalienable rights of man by the State aims at the achievement of social
progress in freedom and justice.
3. The abusive exercise of rights is not permitted.
4. The State has the right to claim of all
citizens to fulfil the duty of social and national solidarity.
Thasos. Deposits of bauxite and iron ore are
rich in metal content. Air pollution is a serious environmental problem
in Athens, where the smog has pocked and discolored many of Greece's monuments
and statues.
Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age was divided into two main cultures:
the Cretan or Minoan (see Minoan Culture), centered on the island of Crete
(Kriti); and the Helladic, on mainland Greece. Late in the 3rd millennium
BC there began a series of invasions by tribes from the north. Gradually,
in the last period of Bronze Age Greece (about 1500-1200 BC), the
mainland absorbed the civilization of Crete. The Trojan War, described
by Homer in the Iliad, began about, or shortly after,1200 BC and was probably
one of a series of wars waged during the 13th and 12th centuries BC. It
may have been connected with the last and most important of the invasions
from the north, which brought the Iron Age to Greece.
century BC has become known as the Golden
Age of Athens. The constitution was reformed to further internal democracy;
the Parthenon, the Erechtheum, and the Propylaea were constructed; and
Greek drama reached its greatest expression with the plays of Aeschylus,
Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. Thucydides and Herodotus were famous
historians, and Socrates was an influential philosopher.
Greek culture through most of the ancient world, making Macedonia one of
the greatest powers in ancient history. Following the death of Alexander
in 323 BC, disagreements arising from the division of Alexander's empire
resulted in a series of wars from 322 to 275 BC. This led to the establishment
of numerous Greek kingdoms.
Roman punishment of all the rebellious cities was heavy, and the campaigns
fought on Greek soil left central Greece in ruins.
Under the Roman Empire in the first centuries of the Christian era, a Greek
renaissance took place, particularly during the reign of Emperor
Hadrian, who beautified Athens and restored many of the ruined cities.
In the middle of the 3rd century AD, however, the Goths captured
Athens and destroyed the cities of Argos, Corinth, and Sparta. By the 6th
century the
Byzantine Empire had evolved in the East.
It included all of Greece and the Aegean region and was characterized by
a mixture of Hellenic culture, influences from the Middle East, and Christianity.
Greece itself became a neglected and obscure province.
declared Greece an autonomous kingdom under
their united protection.
Greece also claimed Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey). In 1923, by the terms of
the Treaty of Lausanne between the Allies and Turkey, Smyrna reverted
to Turkey, and more than 1 million Greek residents of Asia Minor were repatriated,
as were the Turks resident in Greece. Strongly antiroyalist,
the Greek refugees and the powerful military faction agitated ceaselessly
against King George II, who left Greece under pressure in 1923. After a
plebiscite favoring a republican form of government, the parliament
proclaimed Greece a republic in 1924.
territorial claims to the Greek province of
Macedonia. In 1993 the United Nations admitted the country under the name
of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Following international
mediation, the foreign ministers of Greece and the FYROM signed an
interim accord on mutual relations, confirming their border and establishing
diplomatic ties. The
FYROM dropped the symbol claimed by Greece
from its flag. Negotiations continue regarding the issue of the republic's
name. In the 1990s Greece was also at odds with Albania over the alleged
mistreatment of the Greek minority in that country.
Persistent tensions have resulted in several border shootings of Albanian
refugees by Greek troops, the expulsion of thousands of illegal Albanian
workers from Greece, and the imprisonment of five Greek minority leaders
in Albania on charges of espionage and arms smuggling.