Greek crisis: Ending (at last) the Trojan War

...Spartan Military Spending.  With such a history, it is no surprise that Greece still spends heavily on its defence. Greece's military spending is 4.3% of its GDP (even though it has declined over the last 20 years), Turkey 5.3%, and Cyprus 3.8% of its GDP (source: www.cia.gov), which is much higher than in the rest of Europe. In general, small EU countries spend between 1% and 1.5% of their GDP in military spending; for Germany it is 1.5%. The two 'big' military European powers spend much less than Greece: France 2.6% of its GDP; the UK 2.4% of its GDP. Hence, the unique reason for Greece's huge military spending is Turkey. Greece is also the only EU country where the size and composition of the military budget is a state secret, which suggests that these data may still underestimate the truth. For the record, when Greece first lied (in the late 1990s) about its fiscal deficit in order to enter into the euro zone (in 2001), it was mainly because it had concealed large military spending through Maastricht accounting tricks. Instead of buying expensive military aircrafts, the Socialist Government leased them on a long term basis and then classified this leasing as off-balance. When Eurostat discovered the trick in 2004, deficits were re-estimated significantly: 6.4% of GDP in 1997, 4.1% in 1998, 3.4% in 1999 and 4.1% in 2000 (instead of 1.7% then), so that, with the true figures, Greece would never have been allowed into the euro zone in the first place. I would not be surprised if the new lies in the budget data, revealed in November 2009 by the new Socialist Greek government, were linked again with military spending, especially as the culprit, this time the outgoing Conservative Government, feared to be contested by right-wing nationalists in the general elections (as it occurred.)...

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