Greece, officially known as the Hellenic Republic is a country in the Southeast Europe. Greece is a developed country having a high income economy and high standards of living. Greece is a member of the European Union, the Eurozone and NATO. Greece is basically a parliamentary republic, which operated under a parliamentary system of government. The President of the Republic is the head of the state and is elected by the parliament for a term of five years. Let’s now discuss the Greek political hierarchy in a detailed manner with following levels:
- Cabinet Of Greece/Executive Branch
- Legislative Branch
- Judicial Branch
According to the Constitution of Greece, the power is separated into three branches such as the executive, legislative and the judicial branches. The executive powers are exercised by the President and the Prime Minister. The President is the head of the state and the Prime Minister is the head of the government.
The legislative powers are exercised by unicameral Parliament, comprising of 300 members. The judiciary branch is independent of the executive and legislative branches and is composed of three Supreme Courts such as the Council of State, Court of Cassation and Court of Auditors.
Cabinet Of Greece/Executive Branch
The cabinet of Greece constitutes the government and is also known as the Ministerial Council. The cabinet is comprised of the heads of all the executive ministries. The heads are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
President: The President is elected by the Parliament for a five year term. The President manages various agreements of participation in the international organizations. The President also has the power to exercise certain emergency powers but they must be approved by the appropriate cabinet minister.
Prime Minister: The Prime Minister is elected by the people. S/he is the most powerful person of the political hierarchy. The function of a Prime Minister is to safeguard the unity of the government. The Prime Minister recommends other ministers to the President for consideration or dismissal.
Legislative Branch
The legislative powers are exercised by the Greek parliament. The parliament has a total of 300 members who are elected for a four year term. 288 seats out of 300 are determined by the constituency voting and the remaining 12 seats are filled from the several political parties of the nation, based upon the proportion of the total vote each party received. This whole methodology of electing the members of the legislative unit is called as proportional representation.
Judicial Branch
The judicial branch is composed of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Special Supreme Tribunal. The legal system is divided into the civil, criminal and the administrative courts. Three Supreme Courts are present in the judicial system of the Greek political hierarchy, namely the Court of Cassation, Council of State and the Chamber of Accounts or the Court of Auditors. The presidents and vice presidents of the Supreme Court are elected by the Cabinet of Greece, from among the active members of the Supreme Courts.
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