France–Greece relations


France–Greece relations, or Franco-Greek relations, are foreign relations between France and Greece. In modern times, both countries established diplomatic relations in 1833, three years after Greek Independence. France and Greece, due to strong cultural and historical ties, have had a traditionally strong and special relationship and strategic alliance for decades and today enjoy strong diplomatic relations also.
The two countries are EU, UN and NATO member states and cooperate in many other multilateral organizations, such as the La Francophonie, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Union for the Mediterranean.

Country comparison

France Greece
Coat of arms
Population66,993,00010,741,165
Area640,679 km2 131,990 km2
Population Density123/km2 81/km2
CapitalParisAthens
Largest CityParis – 2,234,105 Athens – 664,046
GovernmentUnitary semi-presidential constitutional republicUnitary parliamentary constitutional republic
Official languageFrench Greek
Current LeaderPresident Emmanuel Macron
Prime Minister Jean Castex		President Katerina Sakellaropoulou
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Main religions58% Christianity, 31% non-religious, 7% Islam,
1% Judaism, 1% Buddhism, 2% other		93% Christianity, 4% non-religious, 2% Islam, 1% other
GDP $2.960 trillion, $43,550 per capita$312 billion, $27,776 per capita
GDP $2.794 trillion, $39,932 per capita$218 billion, $18,637 per capita
Expatriate populations3,00035,000
Military expenditures$62.5 billion$4.0 billion

History

Relations stretch back to Classical Antiquity, when Ancient Greek colonies were established in pre-Roman Gaul, the most important of which being Massilia, located in southeastern France. From Massilia and other Greek colonies, Greek goods and elements of the Greek civilization, including coins, spread inland. The Gauls in turn became a part of the Hellenistic world proper after the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans and their establishment in Galatia in Asia Minor.
In the Middle Ages, French crusaders played a major role in the Fourth Crusade and set up several states in Greece following the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire in 1204. This began the period known as Frankokratia in Greece. The main French Crusader states were the Principality of Achaea and the Duchy of Athens, while the other West European states were mostly Italian.
and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in a joint press conference in Paris in February 2013
In the modern age, the French Enlightenment and the ideas of the French Revolution influenced the main thinkers of the Modern Greek Enlightenment, such as Adamantios Korais and Rigas Feraios, and formed the ideological groundwork for the Greek War of Independence. French troops also occupied the Ionian Islands during the Napoleonic Wars, paving the way for the first independent Greek state of modern times, the Septinsular Republic. During the Greek War of Independence that began in 1821, French Philhellenes played an important role, providing much-needed military expertise and propagating the cause of Greek independence abroad. Among the most important was Charles Nicolas Fabvier, an organizer of the modern Greek regular army. French ships also took part in the crucial Battle of Navarino, which secured Greek independence, and a French expeditionary corps landed in Greece in 1828 to help clear the country of remaining Ottoman garrisons.
Along with Great Britain and Russia, France became one of the guarantor powers of the independent Kingdom of Greece. This was reflected in Greek domestic politics during the reign of King Otto, where a French Party vied for influence with the rival English and Russian parties. Britain gradually assumed the dominant position in Greek affairs after the 1860s, but France still retained a measure of influence, especially on cultural and military affairs. French military missions were called to modernize the Greek military. Until the first decades of the 20th century, the French language was the only compulsory foreign language in Greek schools, being the most spoken foreign language among Greeks.
France also played a leading role in the effort to bring Greece into World War I, involving itself in the "National Schism" on the side of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos. French troops, working together with the Venizelists confronted against the royalist forces in Athens, and finally, in June 1917, helped depose the Germanophile King Constantine. After the Great Fire of Thessaloniki, a French architectural commission under Ernest Hébrard took over a modern city plan for the city.
The pro-Greek policies of the French government, such as the pro-French policies of Greece, however, were reversed after Venizelos' electoral defeat in November 1920 and the return of Constantine, after which France supported Kemal Atatürk's Turkish nationalists in their war against Greece.
The two nations were Allies also during WWII. Many political exiles, mostly leftists, found also refuge in France during the Greek military junta.

Bilateral relations and cooperation

France and Greece were allies during both World Wars, the Korean War and the Cold War, and have never been adversaries of each other.
The two countries have had a friendly and strategic alliance for decades and are full members of many international organizations, including the UN, the European Union, NATO, WTO and OSCE. Greece has been a full member of the Francophonie organization since 2004.
There are regular high-level visits between the two countries, and frequent contacts between the two heads of state. France and Greece are co-operating in many fields, including cultural, scientific, judicial and military. Several Greek cities, and most notably Argos and Athens, are the seats for French Schools of Archaeological and Historical studies, where students from both countries study and co-operate in the fields of Archaeology and History.
The fact that 3 French Presidents have been the unique foreign leaders in the history of modern Greece that have had the honor to address the Greek Parliament is a clear certification of the long live connection between the two nations.

Military cooperation

France and Greece have a very close military cooperation, with both countries annually participating in various military drills and exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean, along with other countries like Italy, Egypt and Israel. Such exercises include the Medusa 2016 and the Operation Bright Star. Additionally, the French Navy and the Hellenic Navy are cooperating closely on matters concerning the security of the broader Mediterranean region, with the flagship of the French Navy, the aircraft carrier Charles DeGaulle occasionally paying visits to Greece's Souda Bay Naval Base, the only deep-sea port capable of supporting the largest aircraft carriers in the entire region.
Greece has in modern times bought a number of French weapons systems: the La Combattante IIa, III, and IIIb fast attack craft, the AMX-30 tanks and AMX-10 personnel carriers, and the Mirage F1C and Mirage 2000 fighter jets. In 2009, the purchase of six FREMM frigates was announced, but never realised due to the Greek debt crisis. In 2019, negotiations began between the Greek and French governments for the purchase of BELH@RRA-type frigates.

Greece France Alliance

The slogan "Grèce-France-Alliance", traces its roots back to the political and diplomatic support aid France provided to Greece and Constantine Karamanlis at the time of the return to democracy in 1974, and nowadays is often used to denote the deep historical, cultural and political relations and close diplomatic cooperation between the two countries.

Notable Visits