ABSTRACT
To assess the response of Greece to EU membership, one needs to be familiar with the country's political and administrative tradition. Situated in Southern Europe and neighbouring with the Balkan states, Greece shares no common borders with the EU. The most recent census (2001) recorded a population of 10,939,605, including an increasing number of immigrants. The territory of Greece is 131,957 km and consists of a peninsula and over 2,000 islands. This fragmentation of space has played a considerable role in the uneven socio-economic development of the country and has led to considerable (though not as intense as in other member states) intra - and inter-regional disparities.
