Greece
is located in the far south east of Europe. It borders the Aegean Sea,
the Ionian Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey and the
former Yugoslavia. Its area consists of 131, 990 square kilometres. The
heavily indented coastline stretches for 15, 000 kilometres.
Greece had a population of 10,707,135 in July 1999 with a growth rate
of 0.41%. The capital city is Athens. Greek is the national language,
however, both English and French are also spoken. The main religion is
Greek Orthodox.
The climate is temperate with mild, wet winters with an average temperature
of 9°C in Athens. Summers are hot and dry with maximum temperatures
of 30°C. The terrain is mostly mountainous.
Greece is often called the cradle of western civilisation, and once exerted
a strong influence over the rest of Europe. The Greek empire predated
that of Rome by several hundred years. In the 1960's, Greece was a right-wing
military dictatorship. It is now a parliamentary democracy.
Greece has a mixed capitalist economy, which relies heavily on shipping,
industry, agriculture and tourism. The economy has improved within the
last few years to tighten policy to join the EU's single currency. Industrial
production includes textiles, chemical and food production. Agricultural
produce includes olives, raisins, wine grapes, citrus fruit and tobacco.
The currency unit is the Euro.
There is a moderate amount of franchising in Greece. The Greek Franchise
Association is a member of the European Franchise Federation.
There is no specific franchise law in Greece.
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