Crisis Chronology

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GREECE

09/25/2023

Stefanos Kasselakis, gay financial executive and shipping company founder and owner, is elected leader of Syriza. He is a political novice who entered the race only in August, but is seen as rejuvenating for the party, which has stumbled badly in recent years.

09/07/2023

Heaviest one-day rainfall causes fatal flooding.

07/13/2023

Turkey President Erdogan and Greece Prime Minister Mitsotakis meet and agree to work to improve relations.

06/25/2023

New Democracy wins a significant victory, winning 40% of the vote. Its coalition will hold about 157 of 300 seats in parliament and Mitsotakis will return as prime minister. Syriza fell lower than in the previous election, at 18% and PASOK won 13%. Three far-right parties – Spartan, Greek Solution, and Niki (victory) -- the most of any European parliament, also won seats.

05/23/2023

After opposition parties fail to form a coalition and New Democracy has rejected the possibility of forming a coalition with them, a new election is foreseen, possibly 6/25.

05/21/2023

New Democracy Party wins about 41% of the vote, five seats short of an outright majority. Syriza is disappointed with about 20% of the vote. The vote is so strong that Mitsokakis indicates that he may seek a second vote in late June to gain a majority. President Katerina Sakellaropoulou will offer him a mandate to form a coalition, which he is likely to refuse. She will then pass it to the next two parties, and if that fails, she will arrange a caretaker government until new elections. Greece 5/21/23. General election. Mitsotakis is leading in the polls, and falling inflation, rising tourism revenues, and strong economic growth will help his New Democracy Party remain in office. Syriza remains a strong contender however, and the youth vote may hold the outcome. Nearly a quarter of young Greeks are unemployed.

03/28/2023

Government calls a snap election for May 21, after being severely criticized for the train wreck disaster and accusations of spying on journalists. Mitsokakis’s term would have ended in July. The new election will be conducted with proportional representation that will likely increase the number of parties in parliament.

03/12/2023

Protests continue.

03/05/2023

Protests continue.

03/02/2023

After a train crash kills more than 30, protests about inferior infrastructure and incompetent management weaken Mitsotakis’s standing. The government blames lack of maintenance on the weak economy during the 2010 crisis. Police fire tear gas at protestors.

02/06/2023

Heavy snow. This is the third consecutive winter in which Greece has seen extreme weather.

12/11/2022

Belgian court charges four people will multiple crimes of corruption, including a member of the EU legislature. The charges instance payments by a Middle Eastern country, which many believe to be Qatar. Qatar, though not named in the indictment, denies participation. The EU parliamentarian, Eva Kaili, is a Greek and a member of the ruling PASOK party.

11/08/2022

Trade union strike over the economy.

09/29/2022

Turkey objects to Greece deploying military vehicles on two Aegean islands, which Turkey says breaches a military agreement.

08/05/2022

The head of Greece’s intelligence service, Panagiotis Kontoleon, steps down amid a scandal over the alleged usage of surveillance malware. The EYP chief had presented his resignation “following mistaken actions found during lawful wiretapping procedures.” Last week, the head of PASOK, Nikos Androulakis, said the EU parliament informed him that the government used spyware on his cellphone. All EU parliament members are monitored by the EU.

06/01/2022

Turkey cancels discussions with Greece, accusing Greece of violating its airspace.

04/28/2022

Greece and Turkey squabble over airspace violations.

02/24/2022

Worried about consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, government approves its largest increase in the navy.

10/17/2021

Extremist rightist groups forming in the wake of the ban of Golden Dawn and fomenting attacks against leftists. Mitsotakis has also appointed three cabinet ministers with far-right backgrounds.

10/07/2021

France and Greece sign mutual defense pact, which pledges each to come to the defense of the other if attacked, even by a NATO member. For Greece, this seems to be aimed at NATO member Turkey. It could be invoked if there is an attack on each country’s territorial waters. Greece also signed a mutual defense pact with the UAE in 11/20. France sees Turkey as a rival for influence in North Africa.

07/20/2021

Erdogan says that Cypriot peace talks can only occur between “the two states” on the island.

05/31/2021

Greek and Turkish foreign ministers meet to reduce tensions in eastern Mediterranean.

01/26/2021

Discussions about eastern Mediterranean, the first time since the dispute arose in 2016.

12/22/2020

Greece buys 18 fighter jets from France as distrust of Turkey continues.

11/05/2020

Government issues a three-week stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

10/19/2020

Greece finalizes plan to build a wall on its border with Turkey to stop illegal immigration.

10/07/2020

Golden Dawn is found guilty of multiple crimes, including running a criminal organization.

10/02/2020

EU threatens sanctions on Turkey over eastern Mediterranean dispute.

09/29/2020

Greece contracts with the US to upgrade its jet fighters, in stated response to Turkey’s “aggressiveness.”

08/30/2020

Turkey demands that Greece withdraws its troops from the Aegean island of Kastellorizo, saying Greece had violated the 1947 peace treaty, which called for the formerly Italian-occupied Kastellorizo to be demilitarized, with a recent troop deployment. The Greek government says the event was a "routine troop rotation."

08/27/2020

Greece ratifies maritime boundary agreement with Egypt allowing each country to seek maximum benefit from the resources available in an exclusive economic zone, including oil and gas reserves.

08/26/2020

Turkey extends the mission of its seismic research vessel Oruc Reis and says it will hold gunnery exercises in the eastern Mediterranean northeast of Cyprus.

08/26/2020

Greece ratifies maritime boundary agreement with Italy allowing each country to seek maximum benefit from the resources available in an exclusive economic zone, including oil and gas reserves.

08/21/2020

Turkey announces discovery of a large natural gas deposit in the Black Sea. It will take some years to develop. Turkey continues to assert its right to explore for oil in the eastern Mediterranean continuing a tense standoff there with Greece.

08/07/2020

Turkey announces it will resume oil exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, saying that Greece has violated their agreement.

03/22/2020

Government issues nationwide stay-at-home order.

03/02/2020

Greece deploys military to stop migrants from Turkey and they fire on some, killing one.

03/01/2020

Greece ends its asylum program for refugees from Turkey, barring them from entering Greece.

02/01/2020

Government offers a proposal for a floating barrier between Greece and Turkey as a way of restricting migrants.

01/22/2020

Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou is elected president of Greece by parliament in a rare show of unity. Nominated by Mitsokakis, she is the first female president of Greece.

12/24/2019

Optimism about new business-friendly government and its program to bring younger, tech-knowlegable people back to Greece has pushed the stock market up 40%.

12/10/2019

Turkey and Libya announce an agreement allowing Turkey to drill for natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean. Greece announces that it has filed a formal protest with the UN over the agreement.

11/17/2019

Annual march commemorating the beginning of the downfall of the military dictatorship, the Junta, in 1974

07/07/2019

New Democracy wins parliament

New Democracy, lead by Kyriakos Mitsokakis, a banker and son of a former prime minister, wins 40% of the vote and a majority of the 158-seat parliament. Syriza wins about 31%. Golden Dawn fails to register 3% of the vote and loses all seats in parliament.

05/31/2019

Government calls snap elections for 7/7, after serious losses in European Parliament elections to New Democracy.

05/08/2019

Tsipras promises to cut taxes and raise pensions. New Democracy has a steady lead over Syriza in polls ahead of the European Parliament voting.

01/25/2019

Parliament approves name change for Macedonia.

01/16/2019

Greek parliament passes vote of confidence in administration 151-148.

01/13/2019

After minister of the Anel Party, the junior party in the governing coalition, quits the cabinet over the Macedonia name agreement, Tsipras calls for a vote of confidence.

10/01/2018

Low turnout in nonbinding Macedonia referendum on name change may invalidate outcome, though vote is overwhelmingly in favor of the change. Turnout, currently at 35%, must reach 50% or the vote is discarded. PM Zaev asserts that he will go ahead with the name change in order to join the EU.

08/20/2018

Restrictions imposed on Greece by the IMF are relieved as bailout programs end. Greece must still pay back international loans that are 180% of its current GDP, but the economy is improving (though 25% smaller than before) and Greece can borrow in international markets again.

08/17/2018

Germany and Greece reach agreement on the return of asylum seekers to Greece if they initially registered there. The number of such people is quite small.

07/30/2018

Legislature schedules vote on the name “Republic of Northern Macedonia” for 9/30, although that phrase is not actually used in the referendum question, which asks "Are you for EU and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?" The VMRO-DPMNE legislators boycotted the vote. The agreement also requires that Macedonia remove all references to the “Macedonian people,” and to past efforts to unite Macedonians. The Greek parliament must ratify the agreement by the end of the year and lift its veto on Macedonian entry into the EU.

07/16/2018

Macedonian PM Zaev says that Greek businessmen sympathetic to Russia are paying Macedonians to commit acts of violence before the name referendum.

06/21/2018

EU finance commission officially removes Greece from bailout program as of August.

06/17/2018

Greece and Macedonia sign agreement changing the latter’s name from the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia to Northern Macedonia.

06/17/2018

Government survives no-confidence vote on Macedonia name change.

06/13/2018

Macedonian Pres. Ivanov says he will not sign agreement on new name for Macedonia. In Greece, the Independent Greeks party, part of the ruling coalition, may oppose the agreement, leaving PM Tsipras without a majority. The agreement will be voted on in the parliaments of both countries.

06/12/2018

Greece and Macedonia agree on that the former Yugoslav republic will be called the “Republic of North Macedonia.” North Macedonia amend its constitution and Greece will stop preventing the country’s entry into the EU. However, North Macedonians will vote on the change in a referendum to be scheduled.