Foreign Relations of Greece - Europe

Greece and Albania - even though diplomatic relations were restored in 1971 - normalized relations only in 1987 as till then both countries were officially - in a cease-fire - but nevertheless under the state of war since Albania and Italy had declared war on Greece on 28 October 1940. During rule of dictator Enver Hoxha relations were strained because of the part that Albania played during World War II against Greece and also because of the material help that they provided to Greek communists during the Greek civil war. In addition there was controversy about the treatment of the Greek minority in southern Albania and the Cham issue.

After the fall of the Albanian socialist regime in 1991, relations between the two countries got better but soon begun to deteriorate with accusations about mistreatment of minorities vice versa. To the latter problem it was added the widespread phenomenon of waves of illegal immigration from Albania towards Greece. High criminality numbers from one hand and alleged police brutality from the other became familiar subjects on the news of both neighbors, increasing eventually tensions. According to official Greek data around 450,000 Albanian immigrants work in Greece and it is believed the number will almost double if illegal immigrants are accounted too. This is a brand new situation, for both countries as Greece for the first time become a destination country for immigrants and Albanians for the first time got out of their country after the total isolation that the communist regime had imposed.

Today, relations between the two countries are relatively good, and, at the Albanian Government's request, about 250 Greek military personnel are stationed in Albania to assist with the training and restructuring the Albanian Armed Forces. Albania's economy is overdependent to the money immigrants from Greece sent back home while Greece is the second larger trading partner with more than USD $400 million worth of investments. Moreover Greek products account for 21% of Albania's imports with Greece absorbing 12% of its neighboring country's exports. At the same time, low cost labor from Albania propelled the growth of the Greek economy, especially in the construction and agriculture sectors. Albania is home to 200,000 Greeks while nearly 400,000-600,000 Albanians live and work in Greece, the vast majority of them post-1991 economic migrants.

Greece was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia's independence on 21 September 1991 and one of those that have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. Since the independence of Armenia the two countries have been partners within the framework of international organizations (United Nations, OSCE, Council of Europe, BSEC), whilst Greece firmly supports the community programs aimed at further developing relations between the EU and Armenia.

Continuous visits of the highest level have shown that both countries want to continue to improve the levels of friendship and cooperation (Visit by the President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian to Greece in 1996, visit by the President of the Hellenic Republic Costis Stephanopoulos in 1999, visit by the President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan to Greece in 2000 and 2005 and visit by Greek president Karolos Papoulias to Armenia in June 2007).

Greece is, after Russia, the major military partner of Armenia. Armenian officers are trained in Greek military academies, and various technical assistance is supplied by Greece. Since 2003, an Armenian platoon has been deployed in Kosovo as part of KFOR, where they operate as a part of the Greek battalion of KFOR.

Both countries have had diplomatic relation since the 19th century, after Greece's independence. Greece has an embassy in Vienna and an honorary consulate in Salzburg. Austria has an embassy in Athens and six honorary consulates (in Heraklion, Hermoupolis, Korfu, Patras, Rhodos and Thessaloniki). Both countries are full members of the European Union. There is also a Greek community living in Austria.

• List of bilateral treaties between both countries: Austria Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in German only)
• Austrian embassy in Athens (in German and Greek only)
• Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry about relations with Austria
• Greek embassy in Vienna (in Greek and German only)

Azerbaijan-Greece relations today are friendly. Each state maintains a full embassy, Azerbaijan in Athens and Greece in Baku. Recently in February 2009, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited Greece in order to boost bilateral relations. The leader met with Greek President Karolos Papoulias, as well as the Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. At the meeting between the officials, the two nations agreed that they must work more closely to get Azeri gas into Greece to help ease recent security issues.

In the past the two nations have made many deals related to the oil industry. In 2007 Greek Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas signed a "memorandum of cooperation" in the sectors of natural gas and oil while in Baku. Sioufas referred to this memorandum as a "new page in economic and energy relations of the two countries." Greece supports Azerbaijan's bid to join to European Union and is the first EU member that wanted directly gas important from Azerbaijan.

• Belarus is represented in Greece through its embassy in Sofia (Bulgaria).
• Until 2003, Greece had an embassy in Minsk, today it is represented through its embassy in Moscow (Russia).
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Belarus

• Belgium has an embassy in Athens and seven honorary consulates in Corfu, Iraklion, Mytilini, Patras, Piraeus, Rhodos and Thessaloniki.
• Since 1945, Greece has an embassy in Brussels.
• Both countries are full members of NATO, of the European Union.
• There are between 15,000 and 26,000 Greeks who live in Belgium.
• Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Cooperation for Development about relations with Greece (in French only)
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Belgium

• Greece recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina’s independence in 1992.
• Since 1998, Bosnia and Herzegovina has an embassy in Athens.
• Since 1996, Greece has an embassy in Sarajevo.
• Both countries are full members of the Union for the Mediterranean, of the Southeast European Cooperation Process, of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative, of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and of the Council of Europe.
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the relation with Bosnia and Herzegovina

Since the Second World War, relations between Greece and Bulgaria have been flourishing, and as the Greek President Konstantinos Tsatsos said during the Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov's visit to Athens in April 1976, "the old controversies have been forgotten and the hatchet buried forever". Greece became a firm supporter of Bulgaria’s European Union membership and was the fifth EU member state and the first old member state to ratify the Accession Treaty. Since Bulgaria joined NATO in May 2004, Greek-Bulgarian relations have been developing on all fronts, and the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes relations between Greece and Bulgaria as "excellent".

• Relations are excellent, due to the shared national, historical and cultural heritage of both countries and common interests.
• Cyprus has an embassy in Athens and a consulate-general in Thessaloniki.
• Greece has an embassy in Nicosia.
• Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and of the European Union.
• Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs: list of bilateral treaties with Greece
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the relation with Cyprus

• Diplomatic relations between Greece and former Czechoslovakia were established in 1920 - after Czechoslovakia’s foundation. * The Czech Republic and Greece establishes diplomatic relations on 1 January 1993.
• Each country has an embassy in the other one capital.
• See also Greeks in the Czech Republic

• The two countries share membership of the European Union and NATO and maintain Embassy level relations since 1833 (only three years after the Greek independence).
• They were allies during both World Wars, Korean War and have never been adversaries of each other.
• See also Greeks in France

• The Holy See immediately set up its Apostolic Nunciature to Greece in Athens in 1980.
• The Greek ambassador to the Holy See resided at first in Paris, where he was concurrently accredited to France; but in 1988 a separate Greek embassy to the Holy See, situated in Rome, was set up.

• Ambassadorial representation started on 24 August 1964.
• Both countries are members of the European Union and NATO.
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Hungary
• Greek embassy in Budapest
• Hungarian embassy in Athens
• see also Greeks in Hungary

• Greece is represented in Iceland through its embassy in Oslo (Norway) and through an honorary consulate in Reykjavik.
• Iceland is represented in Greece through its embassy in Oslo (Norway) and through an honorary consulate in Athens.

• Since 1977, Greece has an embassy in Dublin.
• Since 1978, Ireland has an embassy in Athens.
• Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and of the European Union.

• Relations are excellent, due to the shared historical heritage of both countries and common interests. More than two millennium of shared heritage and Greco-Italian relations have led to the Italian language statement "Una Faccia Una Razza" (One Face, One Race).
• Greece has an embassy in Rome, two general consulates in Milan and Naples, a consulate in Venice, and eleven honorary consulates in Trieste (General), Turin (General), Ancona, Catania, Livorno, Bari, Bologna, Brindisi, Florence, Palermo, Perugia, and a Port Consulate in Genova.
• Italy has an embassy in Athens, and fifteen honorary consulates in Alexandroupoli, Kefalonia, Chania, Chios, Corfu, Corinth, Ioannina, Heraklion, Kavala, Larissa, Patras, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Santorini, and Volos.
• Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and of the European Union and NATO.
• There are around 180,000 Greek Orthodox or people of Greek descent living in Italy, of which the majority lives in southern Italy and Sicily.
• An approximation of 200,000 Roman Catholic Italians or people of Italian descent are living in Greece with the majority of them in the Ionian Islands, western Greece and the capital Athens.

• Greece recognized the State of Latvia on 23 May 1922, and diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored on 2 September 1991. Greece has never officially recognized the annexation of the Baltic states by the USSR.
• The Latvian embassy in Athens was established in 1998. Latvia also has two honorary consuls in Greece (one in Athens and one in Thessaloniki).
• The Greek embassy in Riga was opened in January 2005.
• Both countries are full members of NATO and the European Union.
• Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry about relations with Latvia
• Latvia Foreign Affairs Ministry about relations with Greece

• Full diplomatic relations were re-established on 7 January 1992.
• Lithuania has maintained an embassy in Athens since 1997 along with an honorary consulate in Thessaloniki.
• Greece has had an embassy in Vilnius since 2 January 2005.
• Both countries are full members of NATO and the European Union.
• The ambassador to Greece has been Artūras Žurauskas since 2006.
• The ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania is Konstantinos Katsabis.
• Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry about relations with Lithuania
• Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Ministry about relations with Greece
• Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Ministry: list of bilateral treaties with Greece

• Greece has an embassy in Luxembourg.
• Luxembourg has an embassy in Athens and three honorary consulates in Athens, Patras and Thessaloniki.
• Both countries are full members of NATO and of the European Union.
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Luxembourg
• Luxemborug’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Greece (in French only)

• Greece imposed a trade embargo on Macedonia between 1994 and 1995.
• Formal relations between the two countries began when Greece recognized the Republic of Macedonia as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on 13 September 1995.
• Greece is represented in the Republic of Macedonia through its liaison office and its consulate in Skopje as well as its consulate in Bitola.
• The Republic of Macedonia is represented in Greece through its liaison office in Athens and its consulate in Thessaloniki.
• The two countries are involved in a naming dispute (see above).

• The two countries share membership of the European Union.
• Since 2004, Greece has an Embassy in Valletta and accredited its first Ambassador to Malta. Before that date the Greek embassy in Rome was accredited for Malta.
• Malta has an embassy in Athens.
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Malta

• Greece recognized the Republic of Montenegro 13 June 2006.
• Greece has an embassy in Podgorica.
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Montenegro

• Greece has an embassy in Oslo (since 1980) and an honorary consulate in Bergen.
• Norway has an embassy in Athens, and six honorary consulates in Piraeus, Patras, Corfu, Crete, Rhodes and Thessaloniki.
• Both countries are members of NATO.
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Norway

• Both countries exchanged Ambassadors in 1922.
• Greece has an embassy in Warsaw.
• Poland has an embassy in Athens.
• Today both countries are members of the European Union and NATO.
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Poland

• Both countries have a resident embassy in the other's capital.
• Today both country are members of the European Union and NATO. Greece is pushing for Portugal to be admitted in the Mediterranean Games.
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Portugal

Diplomatic relations were established on 20 February 1880, at the legation level, and were raised to embassy level on 1 January 1939. There has been a Greek presence in Romania for at least 27 centuries.

• Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, of the European Union and NATO.

Due to the strong historical friendship and the deep cultural and religious ties between the two nations, Greece and Russia enjoy excellent diplomatic relations. Both countries also share common political views about the Balkans and the world, with Greece being a strong supporter of Russia's stance on the Kosovo Unilateral Declaration of Independence and it is among the states that have not recognized it. Greece also remains the only pre-1990 NATO member that purchases weapons from Russia and at a constant level.

Diplomatic relations were established in 1828. Greece has an embassy in Moscow, and two General Consulates (Saint Petersburg and Novorossiysk). Russia has an Embassy in Athens, a General Consulate in Thessaloniki and in 2012 announced to open honorary consulate in Alexandroupolis. Greece also announced to open another consulate general in Yekaterinburg. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The two nations are traditionally, historically, religiously and culturally close and their friendly relations are confirmed by a regular political dialogue. Greece is supporting quick implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between the EU and Serbia and easing visa regime EU towards Serbia. Greece is among the states that have not recognized the Kosovo Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

Greece is one of the most important economic investors in Serbia, mainly in financial, telecommunication, energy and construction sector. Greece will participate in financing construction of the Corridor 10 highway in Serbia with 100 mil. EUR in total which is a part of its Hellenic Plan for the Economic Reconstruction of the Balkans.

• Greece opened its embassy in Bratislava in September 1996.
• Slovakia also has an embassy in Athens.
• Both countries are full members of NATO and the European Union.
• Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry about relations with Slovakia
• Slovakian Foreign Affairs Ministry about relations with Greece

• Greece opened its embassy in Ljubljana in 1995.
• Slovenia also has an embassy in Athens.
• Both countries are full members of NATO and the European Union.
• Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry about relations with Slovenia

• There is Embassy level representation in Athens and Madrid.
• Greece also has a General Consulate in Barcelona, and Spain an honorary consulate in Thessaloniki.
• Today both country are members of the European Union and NATO.
• Both Queen Sophia of Spain and Domenikos Theotokopoulos are of Greek descent.
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Spain

• The first contact between the two countries can be traced back to the 11th century.
• Both countries are members of the European Union.
• Sweden has an embassy in Athens.
• Greece has an embassies in Stockholm and maintains two Honorary General Consulates in Sweden, in the cities of Malmo and Gothenburg.
• Sweden has eight honorary consulate in Greece (Thessaloniki, Rhodos, Pireus, Patras, Kos, Corfu, Heraklion, Chania).
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Sweden

• Following the setting up of the Greek Embassy in Kiev in 1993, General-Consulates were set up in Mariupol and Odessa.
• Ukraine has opened an Embassy in Athens and a Consulate-General in Thessaloniki.
• See also Greeks in Ukraine
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Ukraine

• Greece has an embassy in London and Honorary Consulates in Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Gibraltar, Glasgow and Leeds.
• The United Kingdom has an embassy in Athens and a Honorary Vice Consulate in Patras. The United Kingdom also has Honorary Consulates in Crete, Corfu, Rhodes, Thessaloniki and Zakynthos.

The two countries share membership of the European Union and NATO, but the issue of the Elgin Marbles removed from the Parthenon by the Earl of Elgin in 1806 and still housed in the British Museum has not been resolved. The two countries were also allies during both World Wars and the Korean War, and they continue to maintain an overall cordial relationship to the present day.