Greece

President

Prime Minister

Prokopis Pavlopoulos (New Democracy, since March 2015)

Kyriakos Mitsotakis (New Democracy, since July 2019)

Population 10,722,287 (2019)
Size 131,957 km2 (50,949 sq. miles)
MEPs 21 (joined the EU in 1981)
Next presidential election

Next legislative election

2020

2023

Presidency of the Council July – December 2027
Last meeting with Boris Johnson None held to date
Brexit priorities With a fragile economy, Greece is mostly concerned with what the economic impact of Brexit will be. Fluctuations of both the euro and the pound can have great consequences for foreign investment in Greece. Tourism is the country’s most important industry and with two million British tourists visiting the country yearly, it will be vital for Greece to maintain steady currencies and good relations with the UK. Greece also wants to maintain tuition costs for Greek students studying in Britain. The Bank of Greece has estimated that the cost of Brexit for Greece ranges from 0.4% to 0.8% of Greek GDP.

The UK and Greece also have common interest in getting an agreement on the unification of Cyprus, an EU country with three guarantor powers: the UK, Greece and Turkey.

What Prime Minister Mitsotakis said on Brexit “A deal has been agreed and it was agreed after a long and cumbersome process and I don’t see a reason for changing what has been agreed,”
Greece’s priorities Former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of the far-left Syriza party called a snap election following his party’s defeat at European and regional elections in May 2019. Following the general election in July, the centre-right party New Democracy obtained 159 out of 300 seats, pushing Syriza into second place. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis can now govern with an absolute majority.

The government’s priority is to restore the Greek economy following the third bailout programme it received in 2015. It wants reform taxes, encourage entrepreneurship and attract private investments. It will also want to request Greece’s creditors to ease their oversight and lower their demands for a primary surplus of 3% of GDP.

Furthermore, Greece has also been hit hard by the refugee crisis, with many refugees entering the country without being able to travel any further. This has put great pressure on the country’s resources, which is why the Greek government aims to resettle refugees throughout the EU.