Greece

Greece

GREECE - COMMUNICATION

Corporate Culture

  • Punctuality is not particularly important in Greece, but foreigners are expected to be on time for business meetings, even though his/her Greek counterpart may be late.
  • Greeks want to get to know you before they will do business with you. Business meetings will usually begin with general conversation before business is discussed.
  • Trust is a major ingredient for acceptance and is much more important than qualifications, expertise or performance.

GREECE - CULTURE

Arts such as architecture, sculpture, pottery, weaving, music, jewellery making, and painting have a long-standing tradition in Greece, where civilisations were already established in pre-historic times.

Greek pottery

GREECE - POLITICS

Contemporary political system

Executive branch

Chief of State: President Karolos PAPOULIAS (since 12 March 2005, next to be held by February 2010) Head of Government: Prime Minister Konstandinos (Kostas) KARAMANLIS (since 7 March 2004) Cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister Foreign Minister: Dora Bakoyannis

Legislative branch

GREECE - HISTORY

History, culture and religion

Classical Greece dates from the first Olympic Game in 776 B.C .and the end of the period is the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. Ancient Greece is considered the cultural foundation of Western Civilization. Even though it was invaded by the Roman, its cultural heritage was preserved by the Roman Empire, which carried a version of the Greek model to many parts of Europe, and shaped the way modern a democratic civilization performs.

GREECE - ECONOMY

Greece has a capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about 40% of GDP and with per capita GDP at least 75% of the leading Eurozone economies. Tourism provides 15% of GDP. Immigrants make up nearly one-fifth of the work force, mainly in agricultural and unskilled labour. Greece is a major beneficiary of EU aid, equal to about 3.3% of annual GDP.

GREECE - BASIC FACTS

Area:
131,957 km2 (50,949 miles2).

Population
11.1 million (National Statistical Service of Greece, 2005).

Population Density
84.1 per km2.

Capital
Athens.
Population: 750,000 (2004 estimate); Greater Athens 3.3 million (2004 estimate).

Government
Republic.

Language
Greek (Ellenika). Most people connected with tourism and those of a younger generation will speak some English, French, German or Italian.

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