Politics, Policies and Practice of Regional Development in Greece — a Review

Abstract

Since the re-establishment of Greece as a modern nation, the elimination of regional and prefectural inequalities has been regularly preached by the government, asked for by the opposition party and recommended by many people with varying objectives and political philosophies. Since the fall of the dictatorship in 1974, and in particular since the entrance of Greece to the European Union (E.U.) in 1981, which, as with other member states, has been urging the government to reduce regional disparities within the country, Greece has not gone a single year without the government attempting to reform the system and the opposition criticising it; the main argument being the overwhelming role of Athens. Inside the community, very few countries, with the exception of the neighbouring Mediterranean France and possibly Italy, have experienced so much reform associated with so little change. Consequently, and despite the regularity and persistence of this concern and the popularity of the issue, regional convergence still remains invisible.